The indictment said the former Trump adviser “abused” his position by sharing more than a thousand pages containing information about his daily professional activities with two related people who were not authorized to view them.
He is also accused of illegally storing documents, records and notes related to national security, including information classified as top secret, at his home in Maryland.
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The 18-count indictment also said classified information was disclosed when agents suspected of having ties to the Iranian regime hacked into Bolton's email account in 2021 and accessed classified information. Prosecutors say Bolton's representative told the FBI that his emails had been hacked, but did not disclose that he had shared secret information through the account or that the hackers had already obtained the information.
Bolton's lawyer said that the allegations against his client are related to the fact that he shared personal diaries with his immediate family. He assured that Bolton did not store or share any information illegally.
In August, his home and office were searched as part of the investigation into Bolton. The purpose of the searches was to determine whether Bolton, who is a vocal Trump critic, illegally possessed or shared classified information.
During the search of Bolton's office, many documents marked “classified”, “confidential” and “secret” were confiscated, the AP reported. Some of them were to concern weapons of mass destruction, state “strategic communications” and the United States mission to the United Nations.
Even though the investigation that led to the indictment took place already under former President Joe Biden and began long before Trump's second term, the case will develop against the background of broader concerns that the Department of Justice is being used as a weapon to prosecute the president's political opponents, the AP emphasized.
Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, following the tumultuous tenures of Mike Flynn and HR McMaster; he held this position from April 2018 to September 2019, when he resigned. His cooperation with Trump ended in conflict.
During Trump's first term, the administration brought two cases against Bolton because the president accused him of leaking confidential information in his published memoirs.
