UPDATE, 4:49 p.m. Eastern: President Donald Trump issued a statement.
BREAKING: President Trump just responded to the news that John Bolton has been indicted by a gran jury!
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 16, 2025
"I didn't know that. You're telling me for the first time! I think he's a bad person. Too bad." pic.twitter.com/QlGR2EDQoS
Original article:
A grand jury formally indicted former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Thursday on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents, CNN reports.
John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-adversary, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland, according to two sources.
Bolton, who has been under investigation for alleged unlawful handling of classified information, becomes the third high-profile Trump political enemy to be indicted in less than a month.
He allegedly shared highly classified information with his wife and daughter over email, sources told CNN.
Sources previously told CNN that part of the Justice Department’s investigation centers around notes he was making to himself in an AOL email account — at times writing summaries of his activities like diary entries — when he was working for Trump.
The FBI raided John Bolton’s home and office on August 22, seizing a trove of classified documents from both locations. According to the Justice Department, agents recovered materials from Bolton’s Washington office and his Bethesda, Md., residence that were marked “secret,” “confidential,” and other designations indicating sensitivity. The files reportedly span multiple presidential administrations — from Bill Clinton’s through George W. Bush’s — and include intelligence related to weapons of mass destruction, diplomatic communications, and national security policy.
Last month, a federal judge unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit prosecutors used to justify the court-approved search. Though heavily censored, the document centers largely on allegations tied to the publication of Bolton’s 2019 memoir, The Room Where It Happened. The judge expressed serious concern that the book may have included highly classified material, information so sensitive it could potentially jeopardize national security.
Previous: Here’s What the FBI Found in John Bolton’s Office
Bolton, however, insists that he’s done nothing wrong. He flatly denies taking classified materials when he left government service and maintains that nothing of a sensitive nature appeared in his book. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, the same lawyer who represented Hunter Biden and is also defending Letitia James, argues that Bolton did not knowingly violate any laws. Lowell claims many of the seized documents had already gone through established declassification and pre-publication review processes.
Prosecutors disagreed, insisting Bolton retained a “substantial cache” of documents far beyond what could reasonably be considered accidental or authorized. Unlike the ongoing cases involving James Comey and Letitia James, which the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia is handling, the Bolton probe is being run out of Maryland.
Democrats are sure to lose their minds over this indictment, but they’ve got no one to blame but themselves. For four straight years, they shouted “no one is above the law” while cheering every investigation, raid, and indictment aimed at Donald Trump. Now that one of their favorite anti-Trump Republicans is facing the same treatment, they’re going to continue their cries of weaponization of justice. The truth is, the standard they demanded is finally being applied evenly, and they can’t handle it. The “no one is above the law” crowd is about to find out what that actually means, and the irony couldn’t be more delicious.
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