(Washington) Donald Trump’s former national security adviser during his first term, John Bolton, who has become one of his most virulent critics, pleaded not guilty on Friday to disclosing and withholding documents relating to national defense, American media report.
John Bolton, 76, was indicted Thursday by a jury in Maryland, near Washington. He is the third person targeted by the American president to be indicted since his return to the White House in January.
“I have become the latest target of his use of the Department of Justice to pursue those he considers his enemies using accusations that have been previously dismissed or that distort the facts,” he reacted Thursday evening after his indictment in a press release relayed by the media.
In June 2020, John Bolton published a vitriolic book about his 17 months as national security adviser to Donald Trump, whom he described as “unfit” to lead the United States.
Donald Trump repeatedly expressed during the electoral campaign his desire, once returned to power, to take revenge on all those he considers personal enemies.
PHOTO NATHAN HOWARD, REUTERS
John Bolton leaving his home in Bethesda, Maryland
John Bolton’s indictment follows that of former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
John Bolton is accused of having “abused his position as national security advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of documents on his daily activities” in these functions with two people around him who did not have security accreditation.
These two people, not identified in the indictment, are said to be his wife and daughter, American media report.
He allegedly shared this confidential information with them via his unsecured personal emails, according to the indictment.
As an aggravating circumstance, in July 2021, a representative of the former national security advisor informed the FBI that one of the email accounts he used had been hacked after his departure from the government by a hacker linked according to him to Iran, a country towards which John Bolton advocated a hard line.
But at no time did he alert the authorities to the fact that he had shared “information relating to national defense, including classified information” on this account, the prosecutors point out.
Furthermore, during a search in August at John Bolton’s home, the FBI discovered documents relating to national defense, according to the prosecution.
The White House tried in vain to legally block the publication of John Bolton’s book in 2020, citing in particular national security imperatives.
