The FBI affidavit that formed the basis for the warrant has been released:
In what isn’t redacted, in the affidavit, there’s a bit of sparring between the person at the National Security Council who is reviewing his book (Ellen Knight) about the level of detail in his book, and how that might imply that Bolton still has materials that he shouldn’t have.
That doesn’t appear to lay a sufficient cause to raid Bolton’s house and take all of his stuff.
There’s a large, redacted portion headlined, “Hack of Bolton AOL Account by Foreign Entity”. We probably have to assume that this forms the bulk of the basis for belief in Bolton’s guilt.
So, in some way, the US government has gained access to something that was (purportedly) hacked by a foreign government (e.g. Russia, Israel, etc.) and it allowed the current administration to get revenge against John Bolton.
That would be my read of the document.
My second, and more amusing, takeaway is that it quotes Bolton discussing the problems of people communicating classified information over Signal as evidence that Bolton knew his ethical and legal duties. I trust that those others will be prosecuted, the same as they’re prosecuting Bolton…
I believe he’s only guilty of having a ridiculous mustache.
As we know, Trump is very fond of launching “investigations” that disrupt people’s lives and harass them, regardless of whether or not there is any true basis for them, and whether or not they even lead to any charges. The investigation itself is the point, the outcome of the investigation is unimportant.
I haven’t read it entirely but it looks like he was keeping a daily journal, while working as the NSA, and emailing it to two relatives.
I’d expect that he’ll claim that it’s non-Confidential on the basis that 1) he’s a NatSec lawyer and knew what he was doing, and 2) he was the NSA with the power to decide what was and wasn’t Confidential at that moment in time, and 3) that whole Signal thing that no one’s getting prosecuted over.
I think there is a good chance he is guilty–as well as a significant number of other people who cycle between the government national security sector and private business.
I’d certainly say that there’s liable to be more merit to this particular case than most others, from what I’ve read.
Though, we’ll need to see what his defense is.
Regrettably, I think he’ll take the prudent course and keep his yap shut until after the case is decided, which removes our ability to fully evaluate his side of things.
A bit conflicted about this. I mean clearly this is significant nail in the coffin of America’s democracy, and a landmark on the road to dictatorship.
On the other hand John Bolton deserves it. He’s a scumbag with the blood of thousands of Iraqis on his hands, who willingly joined the first trump administration knowing exactly who and what Trump was (and spent his time in the administration trying to start another war)
I wonder if this is how Soviet citizens felt about the “vanishing commissar”:
This is one of those, “I can’t believe he did it, but I kind of can believe he did it” things.
On the one hand…Sending regular “diaries” containing summations of classified intel? Allegedly including quotations from foreign officials, details on military attacks, details on certain allies’ military readiness? Come on, Bolton has lived and breathed classified information for most of his adult life. He was a central advisor to President bush during one of the most critical periods of US history, and during Trump’s term, had a SCIF in his house. They don’t just give those to people (other that Trump, of course) who are slap-dash in their approach to protecting secrets. It’s laughable to think he did even a fraction of what’s alluded to in the indictment.
Bu then…It’s John Bolton. The guy I’ve often labelled “The Smartest Moron in the World”. I can totally believe he knows the details of the law surrounding this, and yet, somehow, still manage to violate the spirit of it all over the place.
But on the third hand, this all seems to be about that “The Room” book he wrote. At the time, Trump et al. were accusing him of putting classified information in the book, which of course turned out to be bullshit. This looks like they’re just taking another kick at the cat over the same allegations. If he really did e-mail all this stuff to at least two other people, why didn’t they make a bigger thing of it when they learned that someone, possibly Iran, had hacked that account?
Unlike the other recent high profile indictments, looks like there really were significant violations of the law here. Sometimes the DOJ is weaponized against the guilty as well as the innocent. Too bad there isn’t something they can charge him with for that hideous mustache.
But, likewise true for DJ Trump. Bolton should go down. Trump should go down. Everyone on that Signal chat (Waltz, Vance, Hegseth, Gabbard, Rubio, Ratcliffe, Wiles, Miller, Bessent, and Witkoff) should go down.
Having only Bolton go down for flagrant abuse of his position seems questionable. Not to say that the prosecution shouldn’t go forward, I’ll take every earned conviction that’s handed out. But I’d hope that the following Administration looks back and ensures that the boot comes down on everyone who was criminal in their activities.
That’s if you believe the summaries, which I’m disinclined to do. This is all based on that book he wrote after leaving the first Trump administration. Trump tried to block that book on the basis that it contained classified information, and at that time, that turned out to be bullshit. This looks a lot like a retread of those accusations, dressed to look more impressive, but still dependent upon a subservient DoJ to push the charges.
The problem is, by the nature of classified information, the public is unlikely to ever seen the actual details of what he did or didn’t send, so as to make our own judgements about this.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I seem to recall that he had that book vetted for classified information. So unless they have other evidence, they don’t have a case. But it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Regarding the claim that he texted sensitive information to his family, if that is true then after pulling those texts he’s toast.
I said if it is true.
