The indictment against John Bolton for leaking classified information is more serious than recent charges against two other political opponents of President Donald Trump, but the former US national security adviser has several options for defense, legal experts say, Reuters notes, BTA writes.
The 76-year-old Bolton said yesterday that he is the latest target of Trump's weapon against his enemies, which has transformed the US Justice Department. He pleaded not guilty yesterday to 18 counts of unlawful possession of classified information related to national defense.
Trump, a Republican who campaigned on promises of retribution after facing numerous legal troubles after his first term in the White House, which ended in 2021, has abandoned decades-old regulations designed to shield federal law enforcement from political pressure.
The recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who investigated Trump, have alarmed some Trump critics who say using the criminal justice system to crack down on political enemies resembles the tactics of authoritarian leaders.
But there are key differences between the indictment against Bolton and those against Comey and James.
The investigation into Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, but has since become an outspoken critic of him, began in 2022, before the current Trump administration.
The charges were brought by experienced prosecutors in the Maryland State Attorney's Office and the Justice Department. Both Comey and James were charged by Lindsey Halligan, a newly appointed Virginia attorney general after Trump fired her predecessor for refusing to pursue investigations.
The 26-page indictment against Bolton also contains far more detail than the other cases.
"This indictment is significantly more comprehensive than those extremely sparse indictments," said Benjamin Clubbs, a Washington attorney and former prosecutor.
Bolton's attorney, Abby Lowell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department representative also declined to comment.
On possible arguments of judicial arbitrariness and retaliation
Like Comey and James, Bolton could ask to have the indictment dismissed on grounds of judicial arbitrariness, meaning he was charged with conduct for which other people in a similar situation would not normally be charged, or vindictive prosecution, suggesting he was charged in retaliation for exercising his legal rights.
Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to Congress. James is expected to appear in court on mortgage fraud charges later this month and has denied wrongdoing.
To support his case that he was the victim of judicial misconduct, Bolton could argue that no Trump administration official has been charged over an incident earlier this year in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett shared details of an impending attack in an online messaging group on the Signal app that included his wife, brother, personal lawyer and a journalist from The Atlantic magazine.
Trump administration officials have denied that any classified information was shared.
On the other hand, to support his case that he was the victim of retaliation, Bolton could point to numerous statements Trump has made in interviews and on social media where he claims Bolton was broke the law and should go to prison. He could argue that the statements show Trump's desire for revenge for Bolton's public criticism of him, which is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
But such requests face high demands, and judges may be less willing to grant them if the evidence appears strong, said Stephen Cash, a former prosecutor who is now executive director of "The Steady State", a democracy defense coalition of former national security professionals.
Comey also intends to say that the charges against him should be dismissed because Halligan was not properly appointed, an argument that would not apply to Bolton, since his case is being heard in the state of Maryland.
The charges are based on the "diaries" of Bolton
If the case goes to trial, Bolton could argue that the materials he allegedly withheld and passed were not classified or potentially dangerous to U.S. national defense.
The indictment accuses Bolton of sending "diaries" of his daily activities while serving as national security adviser, including information gleaned from intelligence briefings and meetings with foreign leaders, to two individuals who were not authorized to receive classified information.
Two U.S. officials said the recipients were his wife and daughter, Reuters noted. Bolton sometimes referred to the recipients as "editors" and was working on a memoir about the Trump administration at the time, according to the indictment.
Lowell said in a statement Thursday that the notes were not classified and were shared only with Bolton's closest relatives.
Because the case focuses on Bolton's written notes, not documents marked "Top Secret," prosecutors will have to prove to a jury that the information in his diaries was indeed classified and related to national defense. "It complicates the evidentiary process", Cash said, quoted by Reuters.
According to the indictment filed against Bolton on Thursday, he shared with his wife and daughter more than 1,000 pages of notes containing confidential information he gathered from meetings with other U.S. government officials and foreign leaders, as well as from intelligence briefings, the Associated Press reported. Authorities say some of that information was revealed when agents believed to be linked to the Iranian government hacked Bolton's email account, which he used to send diary-like notes about his activities to loved ones.
"Anyone who abuses their official position and endangers our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in announcing the indictment against Bolton. "Justice is the same for all Americans," Bondi concluded.
In addition, the US Department of Justice alleges that the former Trump adviser stored highly classified intelligence information at his home about a foreign enemy's plans to attack American forces abroad, about covert US government operations, and other state secrets.
Bolton is a longtime Republican foreign policy figure and prominent Washington hawk who served for more than a year in the first Trump administration before being fired in 2019. In June 2020, John Bolton published a scathing book about his 17 months as Trump's national security adviser, whom he describes as "incompetent" to lead the United States, notes Agence France-Presse.
The book, titled "The Room Where It Happened", portrays Trump as utterly ignorant of foreign policy matters. Bolton's lawyers said he continued writing the book after a White House National Security Council official with whom the former Trump adviser worked for months said the manuscript no longer contained classified information, according to the Associated Press.