Former Trump adviser John Bolton indicted on classified documents charges

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on charges that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained classified documents.

The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.

Prosecutors accuse Bolton of using a non-government personal email account and messaging application to transmit at least eight documents to unauthorized individuals that contained information classified at levels ranging from Secret to Top Secret.

Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred during the time when Bolton was serving at Trump's national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, while another document was allegedly sent by Bolton just days after President Donald Trump removed him from the administration in September of 2019.

The move comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James as President Donald Trump continues what critics call a campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.

Bolton has been a target of Trump's ire since leaving Trump's first administration and publishing a tell-all book. Federal agents in August searched Bolton's Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office, related to allegations that Bolton possessed classified information.

Prosecutors say one document listed in the indictment "reveals intelligence about future attack by adversarial group in another country." Others allegedly contain information about foreign partners sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; intelligence related to a foreign adversary's missile launch plans; intelligence on leaders of a U.S. adversary; and one that detailed plans of covert action by the U.S. government.

"There is one tier of justice for all Americans," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law."

The ten documents the indictment says were unlawfully retained by Bolton were allegedly seized during the searches of his home and office in August, and contained similar information to the documents Bolton is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted during his time as national security adviser.

Bolton's attorneys have denied he ever mishandled classified information and said documents investigators found in their search of his home and residence were no longer considered classified.

Bolton has denied ever unlawfully removing classified materials from his time in government and has said no such information was published in his 2019 memoir "The Room Where It Happened."

The investigation is being run out of the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland, unlike the Comey and James probes which are being conducted by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, who sources say brought the Comey and James charges against the advice of career prosecutors.

Comey, who was indicted on charges of lying to Congress, and James, who is charged with mortgage fraud, have both denied wrongdoing.

Last month, a federal judge unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit that had been assembled by prosecutors in order to execute their court-authorized search of Bolton's home. Most of the document concerned allegations surrounding the publication of Bolton's book, which the first Trump administration unsuccessfully sued to block.

The federal judge overseeing that lawsuit expressed grave concerns over whether Bolton had included highly classified information in his book that could potentially compromise national security.

On the day that Bolton's home and office were searched, Trump said that he was "unaware" of the searches but went on to call Bolton a "sleazebag." Referencing the FBI's 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago home in his own classified documents case, Trump told reporters that having your home searched is "not a good feeling."

Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back.

After Trump was reelected president last November, the case was dropped due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.

Trump, asked about Bolton in a June 2022 Oval Office interview with Fox News, said, "He took classified information and he published it, during a presidency. It's one thing to write a book after. During. And I believe that he's a criminal, and I believe, frankly, he should go to jail for that, and that probably, possibly will happen. That's what should happen."

ABC News' Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.