"The case against Mr. Bolton, however, began in the first Trump administration and gained momentum during the Biden administration, as investigators gathered additional evidence. After the guilty plea, Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, compared the case to the 2023 indictment of President Trump, which accused him of mishandling classified information by keeping secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term. The judge overseeing the case against Mr. Trump, Aileen M. Cannon, dismissed those charges before it went to trial...."
From "John Bolton, Former Trump Adviser, Pleads Guilty in Classified Information Case/Mr. Bolton admitted to mishandling classified information and could face time in prison, in an inquiry that spanned the Trump and Biden administrations" (NYT).

৫১টি মন্তব্য:
..now do Hillary!
Eeewww!
"...After the guilty plea, Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, compared the case to the 2023 indictment of President Trump, which accused him of mishandling classified information by keeping secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term..."
That's an amazingly weak argument, isn't it? How are the cases comparable? He's have been better off comparing Bolton to Joe Biden and his stacked boxes in the garage, which went completely unpunished and was clearly a case of violating many procedures.
Pled 'Guilty'? I find that interesting. It makes me wonder who the appointed judge's Bona Fides are. I wonder if the Deep State fix is in.
At least he saved some on legal expenses.
Mr. Bolton (thankfully) was never President. Big difference.
Last I checked, John Bolton never had been president of the United States.
What a difference three years can make, eh Mr. Bolton?
A bit more than just keeping documents because the information was discovered in foreign hands. Also, a President has the power to declassify documents, Bolton did not (neither did Biden as VP). Finally, it didn’t seem the FBI found the classified documents they claimed at Mar-a-lago. The photo they leaked was of cover folders that they had brought with them. Trump’s lawyers were already working with the National Archives to provide documents they requested, but the corrupt archivist pretended they were delaying to create the case made for the raid.
Presidents are on top of the security & classification system, advisors are not.
Trump had the absolute power to declassify everything he took with him when he left.
Bloton didn't, and neither did Vice President Biden.
The charges against Trump were garbage, the ones against Bolton were not
He was all over cable urging long prison terms for Trump. Rather ubiquitous for weeks!
Proper handling, presumably, involves piling them up in a bathroom at your country club and had the case thrown out.
The indictment was a joke, the contrast with Trump a farce and the court's conduct a circus.
He also got hit with a two million dollar fine. The govt. should be satisfied with that. It's a bad look if we start imprisoning people for such offenses. His emails were hacked by an Iranian who tried to blackmail him. He didn't submit to the blackmail, but disclosed his wrongdoing and the blackmail attempt. That's to his credit.
Biden did it. Pence did it. Hillary did it. Obama and Bush likely did too. It’s all crap really unless they investigate and prosecute all of them. There were slimy prosecutors in my era too, particularly at DOJ, but it was not epidemic as it is now.
Biden is clearly guilty of mishandling confidential documents that he had no legal right to possess. However, no evidence regarding dissemination or intent to disseminate has been revealed, which probably means neither was the case. Biden is morally corrupt, arrogant, and venial. He is also shockingly simpleminded. Consequently, the Biden document case is more about stupidity than cupidity. Not so the Bolton case. If he gets what he deserves, it will be because Bolton disseminated secret material through the internet.
it's a bit worse than taking some documents and leaving them lying about. Mr. Bolton used personal email to send and/or describe some of the information he kept. If it's in email, then it's available to every government in the world. Russia, China, North Korea probably all harvested his emails and their contents, just as they did with Hillary Clinton.
When Donald Trump said "ask the Russians" about Hillary's emails, it was a joke/not joke. The Russians certainly scraped every byte and character off Hillary's home-brew email system.
"It's a bad look if we start imprisoning people for such offenses."
People expect that attitude, and that's why it happens so often. If it's a serious thing, which it is, then making that clear though strong reliable punishment is obviously needed. Fines mean nothing. People like Bolton can get someone to pay it, and they know that when they take the documents.
"...Bolton appeared Friday morning for a re-arraignment in Greenbelt, Maryland before Obama-appointed judge Theodore D. Chuang. He faces a prison sentence of up to 60 months and has agreed to pay $2.25 million, according to prosecutors. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 28. ..." (zerohedge)
Oh, so he's this guy. Yeah, the Fix is In.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/20/theodore-chuang-doge-usaid-ruling/
Probably a better comparison would be Biden's mishandling of classified material, that ended up with him not being charged because he was old or something.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Bolten, may be heading to jail, but that wont stop him from tweeting about how we need to start more wars and kill more people. He's always been a killer-clown.
Had Bolten gone full never-trump and helped the D's during their impeachment x10 more then he did, he wouldn't be facing jail time. As it is, he's disliked by everyone.
"His emails were hacked by an Iranian who tried to blackmail him. He didn't submit to the blackmail, but disclosed his wrongdoing and the blackmail attempt."
But the first link in that chain was when he used his personal email to send the classified documents to his... was it his wife? I think that's right. No use of his personal email, no hacking. No hacking, no blackmail attempt. No blackmail attempt, no confession.
I suppose confession is better than stonewalling, but considering that confession first requires (in this case) serious wrongdoing, I'm not giving him very *much* credit.
“His emails were hacked by an Iranian who tried to blackmail him. He didn't submit to the blackmail, but disclosed his wrongdoing and the blackmail attempt.”
Was that by any chance an unsecure email account he was sharing classified documents on?
Sorry Jamie, didn’t see your comment.
Too bad he wasted a lot of money on Abbe Lowell’s representation. Could have gotten the same outcome with a Public Defender.
Ahem. The President has the power to declassify. John Bolton does not. Presumably Bolton's attorneys made this clear to him when advising him to plead. Also that even though he has said bad things about Trump he's a Republican which makes him a dead duck with DC juries.
Is a jury involved if he pled 'Guilty'?
Well, Aggie, Judge Chuang is a former Crimson Sports Editor, AND a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers!
Apparently Trump was unimpressed, as USAID has been dissolved notwithstanding.
And Bolton is a Yalie, so he's probably cooked.
So the 'stache surrenders. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
"He also got hit with a two million dollar fine. The govt. should be satisfied with that. It's a bad look if we start imprisoning people for such offenses."
I don't know... if the law provides for certain penalties, what's wrong with imposing them? If it's a 'bad look', perhaps the law should be rewritten.
"If we start imprisoning people for such offenses" then just kinda spitballing here - maybe if they saw a serious threat to their liberty they wouldn't do the crime?
Money's fungible - if you're doing something against a 'proper' enemy like Trump, there's likely someone willing to help pay for certain considerations. Or you could get your memoirs ghost-written and some publisher would pay you enough of an advance to pay the fine.
Pretty doubtful that someone would go to jail for you, though.
It's a bad look if we start imprisoning people for such offenses.
Actually, we have been putting people in prison for decades for such offenses. With Hillary, there began to be pushback about putting department secretaries and WH advisors in prison. Except at the same time as Hillary, a naval submariner was imprisoned for taking a photo of a classified item then deleting the photo.
Here's another example of a person found guilty and sentenced to prison in March 2025.
"With Hillary, there began to be pushback about putting department secretaries and WH advisors in prison."
The J6 folks who were arrested for doing nothing more than walking through open doors and taking some pictures would like to have a word about the idea there's been a pushback on putting people in prison, I would think.
Teh thieving walrus was John?
Kak-a-bot hardest hit.
seen crying in corner with his banky
Poor Kak-a-bot(D) - admitted guilt not enough.
Fake crimes and lies are Kak-a-bot's speed ...(D)
"Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, compared the case to the 2023 indictment of President Trump, which accused him of mishandling classified information by keeping secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term"
Once more, with passion- President Trump had the power to declassify every document in his possession before he left the White House- and presumably did so. No one, anywhere, can prove he didn't.
Bolton, VP Biden, SECSTATE Clinton, none of them had that power.
"Bolton, VP Biden, SECSTATE Clinton, none of them had that power."
You can explain that to leftards until you're blue in the face and the only response you'll get is a spittle-flecked "But Trump!!!!"
"Mr. Bolton sought to frame the case against him as part of a push by the president to misuse the Justice Department to punish his perceived political enemies."
This is exactly how Bolton would behave if he was a treacherous weasel.
Coincidence?
You can explain that to leftards until you're blue in the face and the only response you'll get is a spittle-flecked "But Trump!!!!"
Which is why there's no point in even trying to explain it to them. Fuck 'em.
Abbe Lowell was also Hunter Biden’s lawyer. Why do people hire this guy or any of these DC defense attorneys?
Represent yourself and save the money. Judges hate pro de defendants. They will force the prosecutors to cut a very good deal for the defendant. You have a constitutional right to represent yourself. Use it.
"...Well, Aggie, Judge Chuang is a former Crimson Sports Editor, AND a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers!....And Bolton is a Yalie, so he's probably cooked. "
I think he'll walk. The Deep State fix is in. TDS beats J.D. and Ivy League rivalries any day of the week.
We'll see.
IIRC, Sandy Burglar got off with a wrist slap for stealing original documents after 9/11 that showed B Clinton was lax about Al Queda when Prez.
If we annex Canada or Greenland, we can send walrustache back to the ice floe ...
Another unconditional surrender by a prominent Republican
Bolton didn’t have the Biden “I’m senile” defense.
Let's not forget, he was indicted on 18 counts, and pled 'Guilty' to only one of them. What happened to the other 17? They go away, as part of the 'plea deal'.
If it gained momentum during the Biden administration then it would have been charged during the Biden administration.
“If it gained momentum during the Biden administration then it would have been charged during the Biden administration.”
Why is that? Bolton was a useful (to the Biden junta) enemy/critic of Donald J. Trump.
I think he walks. It was part of his agreement to plead guilty.
Also think they Flynn'ed him - threatened to prosecute his family to get him to cop a plea.
And Aileen Cannon broke the law time and time again in all of her pro-Trump rulings but that is OK.
And the appointment of the so-called Special Prosecutor hit man Jack Smith was also in violation of both the law and the appointment procedures, not so?
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 4 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith. Also: No italics, even briefly. Use asterisks for emphasis. And don't play with the format by changing fonts or using boldface or all caps. Never include more than one extra line break between paragraphs.