What we're covering
• Federal indictment: John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded not guilty to eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information. He made his first appearance Friday at federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Read the indictment.
• More on his career: Bolton, a longtime government official and United Nations ambassador with a high-level security clearance, served in the first Trump administration as national security adviser from 2018 to 2019.
• Bolton’s statement: In the first reaction to his indictment, Bolton said yesterday that he was a victim of weaponization by Trump’s Justice Department.
Bolton pleads not guilty at his arraignment
John Bolton appeared before a judge and pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges at his federal court arraignment in Greenbelt, Maryland.
He is accused of unlawfully mishandling classified information.
During the initial appearance and arraignment, Judge Timothy Sullivan asked Bolton if he had reviewed the indictment against him and understood the nature of the charges.
“I do your honor,” Bolton said, sitting at the defense table with his attorneys.
The judge also advised Bolton of his rights and told the former national security adviser that he faced up to 10 years in prison if he’s convicted.
When asked how he wanted to plea to the 18 counts, Bolton replied firmly: “Not guilty.”
Bolton will be released on his own recognizance. He can travel domestically as he pleases, but is required to surrender his passport and other travel documents to his lawyer.
He will have to seek approval from the court before he can travel internationally.
Bolton is scheduled to be back in court next on November 21. Pretrial motions are due on November 14.
Abbe Lowell, his defense attorney, said the legal team would be waiving Bolton’s right to speedy trial given the complexity of the case.
Bolton left with courthouse without commenting to reporters.
What to expect as John Bolton makes his first appearance in court
John Bolton is at a federal courthouse in Maryland to appear before a judge for the first time since being indicted on 18 charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Bolton, who served for a time as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, arrived at the courthouse in Greenbelt just after 8:30 a.m. ET.
During the proceeding, scheduled for 11 a.m., Bolton will be read the charges he’s facing and informed of his rights. There, Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan, who is listed as the judge for the first appearance, could decide whether Bolton will be detained or set conditions of his release while he awaits his next court date.
It’s unclear whether Bolton will also be arraigned on Friday. During that proceeding, a defendant enters a plea.
While Sullivan is set to oversee Bolton’s first appearance, US District Judge Theodore Chuang has been assigned Bolton’s case going forward.
In the early morning hours Friday, Reporters and camera operators lined the parking lot across the street from the Greenbelt courthouse. Before Bolton’s arrival, a bevy of news cameras and reporters crowded around the outside courtyard of the building, only to watch Bolton enter without taking questions.
Inside the courthouse, prosecutors stood near a listing of judges on the wall and chatted briefly with Bolton’s legal team.
Bolton’s team disappeared into a room provided by courthouse staff, while prosecutors remained in the lobby, before eventually leaving the courthouse after it became clear the hearing wasn’t imminent.
Maryland US attorneys' office has also fielded investigations into Adam Schiff
The Bolton case has been viewed differently from another high-profile, politically charged investigation within the Maryland US Attorney’s Office: That of Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff.
In that investigation, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the prosecutors’ office, Ed Martin, one of the most polarizing Trump Justice Department officials, has been pushing for an investigation of Schiff. President Donald Trump has also publicly demanded an investigation.
(Notably, in a now-famous social media post last month directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi. Trump didn’t include Bolton in the list of people he wanted Bondi to pursue.)
More than a month ago, Martin spoke to prosecutors in the District of Maryland regarding the Schiff mortgage fraud investigation, and a line attorney from the office was assigned to help on the probe, according to sources familiar with the office.
Yet the investigation hasn’t come to a head under US Attorney Kelly Hayes as of this time, the sources say.
Maryland federal prosecutors' office has long history of high-profile cases
The Maryland US Attorney’s Office’s ethos is grounded in a nonpartisan approach to prosecution, most notably stemming from when Nixon-era Republican US Attorney George Beall brought charges against Vice President Spiro Agnew for bribery and tax evasion.
The case prompted Agnew, also a Maryland Republican, to resign from the Nixon administration.
The US Attorney’s conference room is even named after Beall as a regular reminder of the traditions of the prosecutors there. Even now, decades later, alumni of the Maryland US Attorney’s Office frequently mention the decision-making of Beall, who followed the facts even when they led to his own party.
Several recent Maryland US attorneys have gone on to prominent posts in the Justice Department.
In recent years, Rod Rosenstein ascended from the Maryland job to become the deputy attorney general during Trump’s first term — a position where he oversaw the special counsel probe led by Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s own possible obstruction of justice. (Trump wasn’t charged in the probe, but several of his political advisers were convicted of federal charges.)
Another recent Maryland US Attorney is Robert Hur, who became the special counsel investigating President Joe Biden over his own mishandling of classified documents. Biden wasn’t charged.
Who is John Bolton?
John Bolton, who served briefly as George W. Bush’s interim ambassador to the United Nations and later as a national security adviser during Donald Trump’s first term, made a name for himself in cable news appearances, books and other public arenas over the last 20 years for his strong views of US foreign policy.
The 76-year-old worked as a federal prosecutor during President Ronald Reagan’s second term and for the State Department under George H. W. Bush in the early 1990s, later becoming a strong advocate for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, Bolton worked for a conservative think-tank and made a career on Fox News lambasting the administration’s foreign policy efforts.
Then came Trump, who selected Bolton as a national security adviser in 2018.
Bolton was fired by Trump in 2019 after his diverging views from the administration on several issues, including North Korea and Iran, came to a head.
After leaving, Bolton quickly went back to his punditry bona fides, becoming a harsh critic of Trump and the White House, even writing a critical book of his time in the administration.
Bolton has continued his criticism of Trump into the president’s second term and, in an August opinion piece for the right-wing Washington Examiner published shortly after his home and office were searched by the FBI, ridiculed what he called “Trump’s utterly incoherent Ukraine strategy.”
John Bolton arrives at federal court
John Bolton arrived at federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Friday morning.
Trump’s former national security adviser didn’t talk to reporters when he entered the courthouse.
His attorney Abbe Lowell was also there just before 8:30 a.m.
Lowell and prosecutors told CNN they were not sure when Bolton would be making his appearance on the 18-count indictment.
Bolton decries indictment and Trump's "abuse of power"
John Bolton issued a statement Thursday night saying he has become President Donald Trump’s latest target in the weaponization of his Justice Department.
Watch more:
In the first reaction to his indictment, John Bolton says he is a victim of weaponization by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. CNN's Kaitlan Collins breaks down Bolton's statement.
Indictment points to Bolton’s own commentary in media interviews
The indictment points to John Bolton’s own commentary in media interviews around the sharing of classified information and use of encrypted chats to demonstrate “his understanding of how to properly handle classified information and the potential consequences of failing to do so.”
In one criticism of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time leading the State Department — cited by the indictment — Bolton said in 2017, a year prior to his service under Trump, “if I had done at the State Department what [senior U.S. Government official] did, I’d be [imprisoned] right now.”
The indictment also cites commentary from Bolton when he criticized government officials who used an encrypted chat group to discuss attack plans in the Middle East and accidentally added a magazine editor to the chat.
“When you’re on Signal, did no one in that conversation for days ever say you know maybe we ought to get off this and get back on a classified system,” Bolton continued.
Here's a rundown of what prosecutors say Bolton improperly kept or sent to others
John Bolton is charged with mishandling information classified at the highest levels. This is what prosecutors say Bolton improperly kept or sent to others:
- Several documents that included sensitive sourcing methods, including human intelligence sources
- Documents that included intelligence gathered on foreign leaders
- Several documents that outlined planned foreign attacks, including foreign intelligence or even direct quotes from foreign figures
- At least one document that included intelligence about adversary’s plans for attack an against US military in another country
- At least two documents that detailed covert actions undertaken by the United States.
A federal judge appointed by Obama will oversee Bolton’s criminal case
A federal judge appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama will oversee John Bolton’s criminal case.
US District Judge Theodore Chuang was randomly assigned Bolton’s case after the former Trump national security adviser was indicted Thursday over his alleged mishandling of classified information.
Chuang was appointed to the bench by Obama in 2014.
From his courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, Chuang has handled some notable Trump-related cases over the years, including a challenge during Trump’s first term to the president’s controversial travel ban.
More recently, Chuang ruled in March that Elon Musk’s actions around the shuttering of USAID were unlawful, as then-Trump administration official’s Department of Government Efficiency moved with lightning speed to dismantle various federal agencies.
Prior to joining the federal bench, Chuang served as a top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, and, years before that, he worked as a federal prosecutor in Massachusetts.
