As several criminal investigations into President Donald Trump’s foes continue to flail, federal prosecutors are now ushering one of his biggest critics to a conviction.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty Friday to charges that he unlawfully retained sensitive national security information — marking a rare win in the Justice Department’s list of prosecutions against the president’s political enemies.
While several US attorneys have attempted to stand up cases against well-known political figures that Trump dislikes, the Bolton plea deal was secured by an understated but effective career prosecutor in Maryland, Kelly Hayes, who has been serving as US attorney since shortly after Trump took office last year.
“Everybody’s pleasantly surprised she’s still in the job,” one person who knows the office well said this week. “In some ways, she’s been trying to keep her head down … A lot of US attorney’s Offices tried to attract attention” of the White House.
Unlike cases against Trump’s other political enemies, like former FBI Director James Comey, Bolton’s case maintained support of career prosecutors and investigators.
