(Washington) A former national security adviser to Donald Trump during his first term, John Bolton, on Thursday became the third person targeted by the American president to be indicted since his return to the White House.
John Bolton, 76, was indicted by a jury in Maryland, near Washington, on 18 counts of disclosing or withholding national defense documents, according to the indictment.
“He’s a bad guy, it’s a shame. But that’s how it is,” reacted the Republican president, when questioned about this indictment by journalists at the White House.
Donald Trump repeatedly expressed during the electoral campaign his desire, once returned to power, to take revenge on all those he considers personal enemies.
John Bolton’s indictment follows that of former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
It was preceded in August by an FBI search of John Bolton’s home and office.
This search was motivated by suspicions of violations of the Espionage Act, including “the withholding and disclosure of classified or national defense information,” according to court documents published in September.
These largely redacted documents refer to the hacking of John Bolton’s personal email by “a foreign entity.”
“Political reprisals”
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.
The White House had tried in vain to block the publication of this book in court, citing in particular national security imperatives.
In September, Donald Trump publicly put pressure on his attorney general, Pam Bondi, expressing surprise on his Truth Social platform that James Comey, Letitia James and another of his pet peeves, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, had still not been indicted.
After pushing the attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to resign, implicitly reproaching him for his lack of zeal to initiate these proceedings, the Republican president immediately replaced him in this strategic position by Lindsey Halligan, a White House advisor.
It was the latter who personally launched the proceedings which led to the indictment of James Comey on September 25, then of Letitia James on October 9.
The former FBI director pleaded not guilty to obstructing a parliamentary commission of inquiry and making false statements to Congress in September 2020. His lawyer announced that he would file appeals to dismiss the charges, arguing that they were motivated by a desire for revenge.
Letitia James, accused of making false statements in a mortgage application, denounced “political retaliation” on the part of Donald Trump, whom she had fined nearly half a billion dollars in February 2024.
