John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded not guilty Friday to 18 charges related to mishandling classified information.
Bolton, 76, stood before Judge Timothy Sullivan at the federal district courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, and declared himself “not guilty” during his first court appearance just before 11:30 a.m.
Bolton, a former Trump adviser and critic, is the latest person charged by the Justice Department, which the president has vowed to use in a campaign of retaliation against his perceived enemies.
The former adviser has denied any wrongdoing and accused Trump of “weaponizing” the DOJ to “accuse those he considers his enemies of charges that had previously been dismissed or to distort the facts.”
On Thursday, a grand jury in Maryland returned an 18-count indictment against Bolton on charges that he unlawfully retained and shared national defense information using his personal email and a messaging app.
The indictment alleges Bolton shared more than 1,000 pages of “diary” entries about his daily activities with family members while serving as Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019.
Bolton faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on these charges.
After Bolton pleaded not guilty to the charges, Judge Sullivan said he could be released as long as he surrendered his passport to the court, preventing him from flying outside the United States contingent.
Trump fired Bolton in 2019 after repeatedly clashing with him over foreign policy issues.
Since then, Bolton has become an outspoken Trump critic, claiming his former boss was “unfit” to be president and endorsing the plans “Chaos as a way of life.”
When asked Thursday about Bolton’s allegations, Trump called his former national security adviser a “bad guy.”
Although Bolton is part of Trump’s enemies list, investigations into his handling of classified information during the Biden administration began after Bolton published his memoirs. The room where it happened in 2020. However, the case was closed.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, insisted Bolton did not break the law.
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Lowell said in a statement.
While Bolton joins former FBI Director James Comey, another perceived enemy from Trump’s first administration, in his indictment, the charges against Bolton were brought in a different manner.
Professional prosecutors in Maryland investigated Bolton under normal procedure and charged him with the 18-count indictment. But Trump had to fire and replace a prosecutor in Virginia who declined to file charges against Comey, citing a lack of evidence, to obtain charges against the former FBI director.
This is a developing story, more to come…
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