DOJ, Now Trump’s Tool of Personal Retribution, Indicts John Bolton

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor who became a prominent critic of the president, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland Thursday.

Bolton is the third prominent current or former governmental official to face federal charges after clashing with the president. Trump last month publicly ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue legal charges against his perceived enemies more aggressively. 

As such, the indictment underscores how Trump has turned the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into a tool of personal retribution, as he pledged to do.

The indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for Maryland charges Bolton with 18 counts under the Espionage Act — eight for transmitting national defense information and ten for retaining it — each carrying potential prison terms of up to ten years.

Prosecutors allege that while serving as National Security Advisor, Bolton emailed and messaged diary-style entries containing Top Secret/SCI material to two unauthorized family members using personal AOL and Google accounts, and later stored printed copies in his Maryland home. The documents allegedly described covert U.S. operations, foreign military plans and intelligence collected through sensitive sources and methods.

In its press statement, the DOJ claimed Bolton’s actions “jeopardized national security.” Attorney General Pamela Bondi declared that “no one is above the law,” while FBI Director Kash Patel said the investigation followed “meticulous work from dedicated career professionals.”

The indictment, signed by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan, marks the first Espionage Act case brought against a former National Security Advisor. It also references a 2021 hack by Iranian-linked actors into Bolton’s email account containing some of the classified material.

The Justice Department further seeks forfeiture of property and proceeds tied to the offenses.

In order to convict Bolton, federal prosecutors will be required to prove that he acted with willful intent to violate federal law.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang, an Obama appointee known for his rulings blocking elements of Trump’s first-term travel ban and for more recently blocking Trump and Musk’s attempt to dismantle USAID.

Responding to the indictment in the Oval Office Thursday evening, Trump said Bolton was a “bad guy.”

“You’re telling me for the first time,” Trump said. “But, you know, I think he’s a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy. Yeah, he’s a bad guy. Too bad, but that’s the way it goes.”

The charges were brought by the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland after the FBI conducted raids on Bolton’s Maryland home and office in D.C. in August as part of a probe into whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information.

In addition to Bolton, the DOJ brought charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and former FBI Director James Comey after Trump’s directive. 

Bolton became one of Trump’s fiercest critics after his abrupt departure as national security advisor in 2019. After his departure, Bolton wrote a scathing memoir about his time in the Trump White House.  

The DOJ attempted to prevent the book from being distributed by alleging in court that it contained classified information that could damage the national security of the country. The government’s push for “prior restraint” — preventing publication before it occurs — was widely seen as a major challenge to free speech.

Bolton rejected the charges as a politically motivated act of retribution.

“Donald Trump’s retribution against me began then, continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book, The Room Where It Happened, before the 2020 election, and became one of his rallying cries in his re-election campaign,” Bolt said in response to the indictment. “Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland is also reportedly investigating mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was the lead manager in Trump’s first impeachment trial and was a key member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

Trump has repeatedly called for both Bolton and Schiff to face criminal charges.

Trump himself was charged in 2023 with illegally possessing classified information after boxes containing classified documents were found throughout his Mar-a-Lago home. But a federal judge he appointed dismissed the charges in 2024.

This breaking news story has been updated with additional details throughout.