Tonight in Your Rights: John Bolton's 'diary'
Also: A federal appeals court keeps the troops out of Chicago.
Especially during dark times, it’s important to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s criminal charges for allegedly transmitting and retaining Top Secret information land in a post-James Comey indictment world, where the public is wary of Donald Trump’s abuse of the Justice Department as a weapon against his political enemies.
Still, even in the page count, Bolton’s indictment looks far different from allegations against Comey and Letitia James.
In a 26-page speaking indictment, prosecutors narrate a story about Bolton sending notes of highly classified briefings as “diary” entries to two family members, publicly reported to be his wife and daughter. Bolton allegedly sent those entries over an encrypted text messaging app, a detail that takes on a different resonance in a post-Signalgate world.
Bolton also allegedly sent these notes via his “personal non-governmental email accounts,” one of which was allegedly hacked by Iran, a U.S. adversary. Not all of the notes made the final cut of his memoir “The Room Where It Happened,” in which he told all about Trump’s affinity for “dictators,” among other topics.
Five years ago, Ronald Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth harshly criticized Bolton for having “likely jeopardized national security” in his book in a ruling rejecting the first Trump administration’s attempt to block its publication. Though Bolton technically won the case, Lamberth said that he potentially exposed himself to criminal liability, but prosecutors make a point of saying that the indictment relates to other information that was never published. The New York Times is reporting that Bolton’s investigation heated up during the Biden administration.
Unlike with Comey and James, the Justice Department had no trouble finding seasoned prosecutors to charge the case against Bolton. The indictment has the signature of the U.S. Attorney from the District of Maryland, a line prosecutor, and several other attorneys from Main Justice.
Of course, Bolton is also a sharp critic of Trump, and they now have something in common: a grand jury indictment for violations of the Espionage Act. Prosecutors don’t accuse Bolton of refusing to return classified information, like Trump did before the search of Mar-a-Lago, and Bolton is facing fewer charges than Trump did in his indictment.
Like all criminal defendants, Bolton is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and Trump’s now-documented history of ordering prosecutions against his enemies will precede the case. Bolton’s statement shows that he will remind the public about that fact at every opportunity. It reads:
“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.”
Whatever the merits of Bolton’s charges, every story about his case will discuss Trump’s use of the justice system to attack his enemies, and few people will be able to say that the government prosecuting him is run (at the top) by people who take their obligations to protect national defense information very seriously.
At least, not without laughing.
You can read Bolton’s indictment here.
Trump’s troops must stay out of Chicago
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals emphatically rejected Trump’s attempt to send the Texas National Guard to Chicago, Ill., in a unanimous opinion by three judges appointed by Trump, Obama and Bush.
All three judges, in a per curiam order speaking in a single voice, found that “the facts do not justify the President’s actions in Illinois,” broadly affirming that there is no invasion, rebellion, or inability to execute the laws through regular forces, a finding necessary for Trump to invoke Title 10 of the United States Code to deploy the National Guard.
The order affirmed the findings of U.S. District Judge April M. Perry, whose blistering opinion finding Trump’s actions defied Alexander Hamilton’s wildest imagination. Hamilton once called it “incendiary” and “impossible” to believe that “one state’s militia could be sent to another state for the purposes of political retribution,” Perry wrote in her ruling.
In the video below, I break down the ruling with
:Read the full opinion here.
Jeanine Pirro’s latest humiliation
Months ago, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro unsuccessfully tried to indict Sidney Reid for allegedly assaulting immigration officials, only to have three separate grand juries return no true bills.
The federal prosecutors from Pirro’s office lost their final attempt to recover from those defeats.
On Thursday, a jury acquitted Reid of the since-reduced misdemeanor charge on the same offense.
Read more about the development here.
Must reads
ProPublica reports: “We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.”
New York Times reports: “Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say.”
The article reports: “It was unclear why Admiral Holsey is suddenly departing, less than a year into what is typically a three-year job, and in the midst of the biggest operation in his 37-year career. But one current and one former U.S. official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”