John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser-turned-adversary, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday.

Bolton, the third high-profile Trump political enemy to be indicted in lower than a month, now faces eight counts of transmission of nationwide protection info and 10 counts of retention of nationwide protection info.

Primarily, prosecutors say, Bolton stored — and shared with members of the family — digital diaries of his actions that included all types of categorised materials from when he was nationwide safety adviser.

Based on the indictment, Bolton shared “greater than a thousand pages” of “diary-like entries” “that contained info categorised as much as the TOP SECRET” degree.

The fees unveiled Thursday are the results of a prison investigation that started in 2022 after Bolton’s emails have been hacked by Iran.

Bolton surrendered himself Friday to authorities at a federal courtroom in Greenbelt. A listening to has not been scheduled.

Video under: Trump reacts to John Bolton, his former nationwide safety adviser, being indicted

What are the allegations?

Bolton would allegedly take handwritten notes from his day on the White Home and different safe areas then rewrite them on his laptop. These entries, prosecutors say, have been printed and remained on private units utilized by Bolton and others in his residence.

“Bolton used his private non-governmental electronic mail accounts, resembling electronic mail accounts hosted by AOL and Google, to electronic mail info categorised” to the person’s private electronic mail accounts, the indictment states.

“Usually, Bolton’s notes described the safe setting or atmosphere wherein he discovered the nationwide protection and categorised info that he was memorializing in his notes,” prosecutors say.

The aim Bolton said of making a bunch chat wherein he would later share his notes taken throughout his work as a nationwide safety adviser, the indictment says, was “For Diary sooner or later!!!”

“The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted prime secret info utilizing private on-line accounts and retained mentioned paperwork in his home in direct violation of federal regulation,” FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned in an announcement.

Prosecutors made use of Bolton’s voluminous media commentary on the sharing of categorised info and use of encrypted chats to make the case that the previous nationwide safety adviser has a robust “understanding of tips on how to correctly deal with categorised info and the potential penalties of failing to take action,” in keeping with the indictment.

In a single criticism of Hillary Clinton’s use of a non-public electronic mail server throughout her time main the State Division – cited by the indictment – Bolton mentioned in 2017, a yr previous to his service underneath Trump, “if I had executed on the State Division what [senior U.S. Government official] did, I’d be [imprisoned] proper now.”

Bolton says he’s a sufferer of Trump’s DOJ

Bolton issued an announcement Thursday evening saying he has develop into Trump’s newest goal within the weaponization of his Justice Division.

He mentioned that his ebook, “The Room The place It Occurred,” was reviewed and permitted by “the suitable, skilled profession clearance officers” and that the FBI was made totally conscious of his electronic mail hack in 2021. Within the 4 years of the Biden administration, Bolton mentioned, no prices have been filed towards him.

“Then got here Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police as soon as mentioned, ‘You present me the person, and I’ll present you the crime,’” Bolton mentioned.

“These prices are usually not nearly his concentrate on 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,” he added. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally vital to our freedom. I look ahead to the combat to defend my lawful conduct and to reveal his abuse of energy.”

Trump, in the meantime, was on the White Home, doing a press occasion on IVF drug costs when the indictment was handed up.

“He’s, you recognize, a foul particular person. I feel he’s a foul man,” Trump mentioned when informed of the indictment. “Yeah, he’s a foul man, too unhealthy, however that’s the way in which it goes, proper?”

Investigation started throughout Biden years

Whereas the primary Trump Justice Division had initially sought to dam Bolton’s 2020 memoir and investigated whether or not Bolton violated the regulation by together with info the administration mentioned was categorised, that case was closed in 2021.

It’s an Iran hack investigation began in 2021 underneath Biden that introduced issues to the present level.

For prosecutors and FBI investigators, a part of their effort has centered on protecting the case out of the roiling politics looming over the Justice Division as Trump has publicly pushed for the prosecution of his political enemies, which incorporates Bolton.

In contrast to prosecutions introduced towards former FBI Director James Comey and New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James, the Bolton case has maintained the assist of profession prosecutors and investigators, individuals briefed on the matter mentioned.

What’s subsequent for Bolton?

The fees — if confirmed — are presumably extra critical than these in different high-profile investigations into the mishandling of categorised materials, resembling these associated to Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence, Joe Biden and Trump, mentioned CNN’s senior authorized analyst Elie Honig.

That’s as a result of Bolton is alleged to have “actively disseminated” categorised info of the “highest degree” to members of the family who had no safety clearance. And when Bolton’s electronic mail was hacked by Iran, he allegedly omitted that he had been utilizing the e-mail account to share such info.

“If DOJ can show this, that is massive, massive hassle for John Bolton,” Honig mentioned.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Decide Theodore Chuang, appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama in 2014.