Former National Security Advisor John Bolton entered a guilty plea last week in his prosecution under the Espionage Act for retaining and mishandling classified documents and National Defense Information. While that is good news to anyone who believes in justice, with the guilty plea, many of the accusations of the indictment became facts. John Bolton spent the last several years hammering President Trump in the media for supposedly disregarding the rules for handling classified information, when in truth, Bolton was the guilty one.
Who is John Bolton?
Chances are my readers are well familiar with John Bolton, but some background on the man is in order for those who may not know him. Bolton is familiar to most people as a cross between Colonel Sanders and Mr. Monopoly. Despite his stuffy, odd appearance, Bolton served in the highest levels of government before the Trump Administration. As the Indictment sets forth, Bolton served as Assistant Attorney General, Under Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in previous administration before his appointment as National Security Advisor. Bolton is widely regarded as a war hawk and neo-con.
John Bolton joined the first Trump Administration as National Security Advisor in April 2018. (Though, in light of Bolton’s extensive history with the establishment GOP and his pro-war foreign policy views, one might legitimately question why President Trump appointed him National Security Advisor in the first place.) When Trump dismissed him in 2019, Bolton went on a world wide tour smearing President Trump at every turn.
Bolton Probably Planned to Stab Trump in the Back from the Start
John Bolton joined the first Trump Administration as National Security Advisor in April 2018. After his Indictment, we learned the entire time Bolton served as National Security Advisor he was preparing for a tell-all memoir.
When Bolton assumed his duties as National Security Advisor he began making “diary like entries,” many of which contained classified information, of his day to day activities and sending those entries to two family members (labeled “Individual 1” & “Individual 2” in the indictment, but identified in news reports as his wife and daughter) by unsecured AOL and Gmail email accounts.
These facts are not in dispute, because Bolton entered into a Stipulation of Facts in connection with his Guilty Plea. From the Stipulation of Facts:
Bolton and his two family members also communicated through a group chat where the “diaries” were exchanged. Again from the Stipulation of Facts:
How do we know Bolton planned to stab Trump in the back? Not only the meticulous way he started compiling data about his work and sharing it with his family members, but also from his interactions with his literary agent. The Stipulation of Facts entered in connection with Bolton’s guilty plea confirmed he started working with a literary agent on a book two months BEFORE he was fired as National Security Advisor. Then, on September 11, 2019, the DAY AFTER Bolton was fired as National Security Advisor, Bolton’s literary agent emailed a publisher the message outlined below:
What are the odds Bolton took all of these steps to “meticulously” document his time as National Security Advisor with the intent to portray President Trump in a positive way? In my opinion, those odds are ZERO.
Bolton Endangered Our National Security to Try to Hurt President Trump
As the National Security Advisor to President Trump, John Bolton had virtually unparalleled access to classified information, classified documents and this Country’s National Defense Information. As a result, Bolton was subject to extensive statutory and contractual obligations to protect the information and documentation he accessed. Bolton executed several non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) which obligated him to get pre approval from the government of any manuscripts submitted for publication to ensure classified information was removed before publication.
John Bolton started, but did not complete, the process of getting the government to approve the manuscript of his memoir. Bolton submitted a draft manuscript to the National Security Council in December 2019. This started a process of back and forth over extensive edits requested by the government to remove classified information from the manuscript. On June 8, 2020, the government issued a letter to Bolton advising him the manuscript still included classified information, but Bolton already sent the manuscript to his publisher.
The United States sued to stop Bolton’s book from being published, but by that time, thousands of the books were already in print and distributed. The court did not stop the publishing of the book because it was already published and distributed, but the court did make the following observations about Bolton and his conduct:
Why would Bolton be in such a rush to publish his book? One explanation is to make money. Another explanation is to do maximum damage to President Trump before the November 2020 election. Bolton’s memoir is harshly critical of President Trump, though the criticisms are mostly self-serving, unverifiable nonsense. The most plausible reason to rush the book to publication wa to try to impact the election.
Foreign Enemy Hacked Bolton’s Personal Email
To make matters worse, not only did Bolton share classified information with family members who had no clearance to access it, not only did he use his personal email accounts and phones to do so, not only did he keep classified information long after his right to possess it ended, but the Iranians hacked his personal email and gained access to some, if not all, of the classified information he wrongfully retained. Again, from the Stipulation of Facts:
This clownish establishment hack let the Iranians get access to the classified information he unlawfully retained and, when he reported the hack to the U.S. Government, he did not tell the feds the hack was of an email account containing National Defense Information and classified information. Unbelievable. Imagine the hubris of this guy to utter ONE WORD about anyone else.
Bolton Went All Over Media Trashing Trump
Bolton’s self-serving book, published in 2020, casts President Trump as “unfit” for office. He reiterated this criticism (along with many others) in one interview after another since leaving the first Trump Administration. After the Biden Regime targeted Trump with an illegitimate indictment over classified documents, Bolton made media appearances and claimed President Trump had contempt and disdain for the rules regarding handling classified information. Bolton even opined the indictment might land Trump in prison. Bolton kept up the relentless criticism of President Trump for years now. All the while, it was Bolton who recklessly handled classified information, illegally shared it, illegally retained it and allowed our nation’s enemies to get it from him.
Conclusion
In a political environment full of Trump-hating extremists, John Bolton stands head and shoulders above virtually all of Trump’s critics. Despite pleading guilty to violating the Espionage Act, Bolton will probably keep up the attacks and slanders on President Trump. But, the next time you hear or read another slanderous attack from the clownish John Bolton, you will know Bolton himself is the one guilty of endangering our national security and recklessly mishandling classified information.
The fact he possessed the unabashed audacity to criticize President Trump boggles the mind. John Bolton is one of the most treacherous scoundrels to ever serve the government. He should shut his mouth and slink away in shame, but he probably lacks the self-awareness to do it.