Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton makes 1st court appearance after indictment

John Bolton arrives at a federal courthouse to surrender to authorities on charges accusing the former Trump administration national security adviser of storing top secret records at home and sharing with relatives diary-like notes that contained classified information.

Bolton does not comment to reporters as he enters the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge on the 18-count indictment brought against him yesterday.

Authorities have suggested that classified information was exposed when operatives believed to be linked to the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s email account and gained access to sensitive material he had shared. A Bolton representative told the FBI in 2021 that his emails had been hacked, prosecutors say, but did not reveal that Bolton had shared classified information through the account or that the hackers had possession of government secrets.

The third case against a Trump adversary in the past month will unfold against the backdrop of concerns that the US Justice Department is pursuing the Republican president’s political enemies while at the same time sparing his allies from scrutiny.