Top DOJ Officials Moving to Charge John Bolton Immediately: Report
Charges against former National Security Advisor John Bolton could come soon, according to a new report.
According to CNN, which cited sources it did not name, charges could come this week.
Charging Bolton — who morphed from serving Trump in his first administration to a sever critic of the president — over improper handling of national security documents could also come later in the year, depending upon who wins an internal Justice Department debate, CNN wrote.
Reuters framed the issue as a debate over when to charge Bolton, rather than whether to do so.
“Prosecutors in the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office, which is leading the Bolton probe, and attorneys from the department’s National Security Division are pushing back against pressure from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office,” Reuters wrote, citing sources it did not name.
The Reuters report said prosecutors are being urged to present a case against Bolton to a grand jury next week.
CNN reported that senior Justice Department officials have mulled replacing the existing prosecutors assigned to Bolton’s case.
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Thursday on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, according to Fox News.
Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said Bolton has done nothing wrong, according to CNN.
“The documents with classification markings from the period 1998 – 2006 date back to Ambassador Bolton’s time in the George W. Bush Administration,” Lowell said in a statement on Wednesday. “An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton.”
FBI agents discovered classified documents at Bolton’s Washington office last month, according to Politico.
Material found in the Aug. 22 search made references to weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the United Nations, and records related to the U.S. government’s strategic communications.
A search of Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home led to the seizure of computers and electronic devices, but nothing classified was immediately flagged.
Documents indicated evidence was sought related to three felony offenses, including gathering, transmitting, or losing national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act and retaining classified information without permission.
Vice President J.D. Vance said earlier that at the time of the raid, the government was “in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton in relation to a classified documents probe,” according to Newsweek.
“If they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determine that he has broken the law. … You shouldn’t throw people willy-nilly in prison. You should let the law drive these determinations, and that’s what we’re doing.”
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