Former Trump nationwide safety adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on prices that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained categorized paperwork.
The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, prices Bolton with eight counts of illegal transmission of nationwide protection info in addition to 10 counts of illegal retention of nationwide protection info.
Prosecutors accuse Bolton of utilizing a non-government private electronic mail account and messaging software to transmit a minimum of eight paperwork to unauthorized people that contained info categorized at ranges starting from Secret to High Secret.
Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred in the course of the time when Bolton was serving at Trump’s nationwide safety adviser in 2018 and 2019, whereas one other doc was allegedly despatched by Bolton simply days after President Donald Trump eliminated him from the administration in September of 2019.
“For 4 many years, I’ve devoted my life to America’s international coverage and nationwide safety. I might by no means compromise these objectives,” Bolton mentioned in a prolonged assertion, saying the indictment is a part of a sample of “Donald Trump’s retribution” towards him since leaving Trump’s first administration and publishing a tell-all e book.
“I stay up for the battle to defend my lawful conduct and to reveal his abuse of energy,” Bolton mentioned within the assertion.
The transfer to indict Bolton comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James as President Donald Trump continues what critics name a campaign of retribution towards his perceived political foes.
Federal brokers in August searched Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., workplace, associated to allegations that Bolton possessed categorized info.
Prosecutors say one doc listed within the indictment “reveals intelligence about future assault by adversarial group abroad.” Others allegedly include details about international companions sharing delicate info with the U.S. intelligence neighborhood; intelligence associated to a international adversary’s missile launch plans; intelligence on leaders of a U.S. adversary; and one which detailed plans of covert motion by the U.S. authorities.
Former Nationwide Safety Advisor John Bolton listens to a query from a pupil on the John F. Kennedy Jr Discussion board on the Kennedy Faculty of Authorities at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 29, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
The indictment accuses Bolton of abusing his place as nationwide safety adviser by sharing “greater than a thousand pages” of data in “diary-like entries” about his day-to-day actions with two recipients recognized solely as “Particular person 1” and “Particular person 2,” who prosecutors say are Bolton’s family members.
Sources instructed ABC Information that the family members referred to within the indictment as ‘Particular person 1’ and ‘Particular person 2’ are Bolton’s spouse and daughter.
Bolton’s spouse was current at their house the day the search was executed almost two months in the past.
It was not instantly clear which is believed to be Particular person 1 or 2.
Prosecutors additional allege that Bolton unlawfully retained paperwork, writing and notes containing nationwide protection info ranging to ranges of High Secret and Delicate Compartmented Info at his house in Maryland, saved each as paper recordsdata and on various private units.
The indictment says that in some unspecified time in the future after Bolton left workplace as nationwide safety adviser, a cyber actor believed to be related to Iran hacked his private electronic mail account and gained entry to the categorized info he had beforehand emailed to his family members.
When Bolton reported the hack to U.S. authorities in July of 2021 below the Biden administration, prosecutors say he didn’t inform them of the allegedly delicate nationwide safety info he shared.
What Bolton and his attorneys say
Bolton has denied ever unlawfully eradicating categorized supplies from his time in authorities and has mentioned no such info was revealed in his 2020 memoir “The Room The place It Occurred.”
In his assertion on Thursday, Bolton mentioned his e book was “reviewed and authorised by the suitable, skilled profession clearance officers.”
Concerning the 2021 electronic mail hack, Bolton mentioned the FBI “was made absolutely conscious.”
“These prices will not be nearly his deal with me or my diaries, however his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to make sure that he alone determines what is claimed about his conduct,” Bolton mentioned within the assertion, referring to Trump. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally necessary to our freedom.”
Bolton’s attorneys have denied he ever mishandled categorized info and mentioned paperwork investigators discovered of their search of his house and residence had been now not thought of categorized.
“The underlying details on this case had been investigated and resolved years in the past,” Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, mentioned in an announcement. “These prices stem from parts of Amb. Bolton’s private diaries over his 45-year profession — data which are unclassified, shared solely together with his instant household, and recognized to the FBI way back to 2021. We stay up for proving as soon as once more that Amb. Bolton didn’t unlawfully share or retailer any info.”
“There’s one tier of justice for all People,” Legal professional Normal Pamela Bondi mentioned in a DOJ assertion saying the indictment. “Anybody who abuses a place of energy and jeopardizes our nationwide safety will probably be held accountable. Nobody is above the regulation.”
The ten paperwork the indictment says had been unlawfully retained by Bolton had been allegedly seized in the course of the searches of his house and workplace in August, and contained comparable info to the paperwork Bolton is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted throughout his time as nationwide safety adviser.
The investigation is being run out of the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Maryland, not like the Comey and James probes that are being carried out by the Trump-appointed U.S. lawyer within the Jap District of Virginia, who sources say introduced the Comey and James prices against the advice of profession prosecutors.
Comey, who was indicted on prices of mendacity to Congress, and James, who’s charged with mortgage fraud, have each denied wrongdoing.
Final month, a federal decide unsealed a redacted model of the affidavit that had been assembled by prosecutors to be able to execute their court-authorized search of Bolton’s house. Many of the doc involved allegations surrounding the publication of Bolton’s e book, which the primary Trump administration unsuccessfully sued to dam.
The federal decide overseeing that lawsuit expressed grave considerations over whether or not Bolton had included extremely categorized info in his e book that might probably compromise nationwide safety.
On the day that Bolton’s house and workplace had been searched, Trump mentioned that he was “unaware” of the searches however went on to name Bolton a “sleazebag.” Referencing the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago house in his personal classified documents case, Trump instructed reporters that having your house searched is “not a very good feeling.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 legal counts associated to his dealing with of categorized supplies after leaving the White Home in 2021, after prosecutors mentioned he repeatedly refused to return a whole lot of paperwork containing categorized info and took steps to thwart the federal government’s efforts to get the paperwork again.
After Trump was reelected president final November, the case was dropped as a result of a long-standing Justice Division coverage barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump, requested about Bolton in a June 2022 Oval Workplace interview with Fox Information, mentioned, “He took categorized info and he revealed it, throughout a presidency. It is one factor to jot down a e book after. Throughout. And I consider that he is a legal, and I consider, frankly, he ought to go to jail for that, and that most likely, presumably will occur. That is what ought to occur.”
