Developing…
On Friday, former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded not guilty to 18 criminal charges that accuse him of mishandling classified materials.
“Not guilty, your Honor,” Bolton said during a federal court appearance in Maryland.
Prosecutors allege that, beginning in April 2018 until at least August this year, Bolton “abused his position” as national security adviser to share more than a thousand pages of information about his daily activities in the role with two unauthorized individuals, both of whom were “related” to him and never held security clearances.
The Hill reports:
The information included details classified as top secret and related to the national defense and was sent to the individuals in “diary-like entries” through non-governmental messaging apps and email accounts, according to the 26-page indictment.
“At no point did Bolton have authorization to store or transmit the classified information that he sent to Individuals 1 and 2 via his personal electronic devices and accounts,” the charging papers read. “Nor did, at any time, individuals 1 and 2 have authorization to know or store the classified information that Bolton gave to them.”
In July 2021, a representative for Bolton notified the FBI that one of his personal accounts was believed to have been hacked by Iran.
The apparent hacker allegedly wrote to Bolton and his representative that the hack “could be the biggest scandal since Hillary (Clinton)’s emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side,” according to the indictment.
Bolton faces eight transmission counts and 10 retention counts.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
