John Bolton Responds to Indictment, Vows to ‘Expose’ Trump’s ‘Abuse of Power’: ‘I Look Forward to the Fight’
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton fired back after he was indicted Thursday, vowing to fight the charges and “expose” President Donald Trump’s “abuse of power.”
Bolton served during Trump’s first term, leaving in September 2019 and evolving into a fierce critic of his former boss — winning him praise from Democrats and Never Trump Republicans but putting him in the president’s crosshairs, especially after Trump won re-election and with it, access to government power again.
In August, the FBI raided Bolton’s home, reportedly related to a national security investigation into classified documents and notes he sent himself on an AOL email account while he was working for the Trump administration.
Thursday, a Maryland grand jury returned an indictment against Bolton, charging him with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and ten counts of retention of national defense information.
Bolton, both directly and through his legal representation, has repeatedly denied that he mishandled classified materials, and he issued a longer statement Thursday evening specifically responding to the indictment.
CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins shared Bolton’s statement on social media.
In the statement, Bolton declared his devotion to American foreign policy and national security interests, as well as his innocence regarding the charges against him, accusing Trump of targeting him for “retribution” and as part of an “intensive effort to intimidate his opponents.”
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” he concluded.
Bolton’s statement in full:
For four decades, I have devoted my life to America’s foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals. I tried to do that during my tenure in the first Trump Administration but resigned when it became impossible to do so. Donald Trump’s retribution against me began then, continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book, The Room Where It Happened, before the 2020 election, and became one of his rallying cries in his re-election campaign.
Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.
My book was reviewed and approved by the appropriate, experienced career clearance officials. When my e-mail was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware. In four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed. Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’
These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct. Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom. I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power.
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