For a smart guy, John Bolton is kind of an idiot.
If the indictment that dropped yesterday is correct, he sent regular emails to his wife and daughter for more than a year detailing every interesting thing that happened to him as National Security Advisor “For Diary in the future!!!” And by “diary” he meant the book that he pitched to publishers five seconds after being fired in September of 2019.
Lots of the interesting things that he was chitchatting about on his AOL and Gmail accounts allegedly involved national defense information:
On or about July 23, 2018, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a message that stated, “More stuff coming!!!” A few minutes later, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a 24-page document which described information that BOLTON learned while National Security Advisor. Less than three hours later, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a follow-up message that stated, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, Individual 1 sent a message that stated, “Shhhhh.”
According to the indictment, Iranian hackers accessed these emails and even taunted Bolton, saying “This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary’s emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side!”
Joke’s on you, Iranian hackers!
The entire premise of Bolton’s book is that Trump is vengeful and stupid. His LiveJournal coincides with Trump’s shakedown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Joe Biden. And yet Bolton seems to have been remarkably unconcerned about blowback as he prepared to embarrass the shit out of the guy willing to leave thousands of human beings vulnerable to Russian attacks for political advantage. Bolton was, as he said, in The Room Where It Happened (affiliate link), and yet it seems not to have occurred to him that it could happen to him. Which is even weirder, since it had just happened to former CIA Director David Patraeus, who detailed his adventures in real time to his biographer (with whom he was having an affair), and later pleaded to mishandling classified information.
Did it not occur to Bolton that he was handing Trump a giant stick to beat him with?
Back in 2020, Trump contented himself with boning the prepublication review of Bolton’s book, bottling it up until Bolton abandoned the process and went to press without the government’s blessing.
Now Trump is back in the White House, and weaponizing the DOJ against all his enemies. And the fact that everyone does it this way will not protect you from an 18-count indictment for violating the Espionage Act.
A quick glance at the signature blocks makes it clear that this is not some bullshit charge brought by an insurance lawyer because Tish James let her niece live in a tiny house in Norfolk.
Bolton’s indictment is signed by the highly competent US Attorney for Maryland, Kelly Hayes, Thomas Sullivan, Chief of the District’s National Security and Cybercrime Section, plus four more lawyers:
James’s indictment sig block:
Comey’s indictment sig block:
Abbe Lowell, who is representing Bolton, scoffs that there is nothing here.
“These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021,” he told the Washington Post.
And that may be true! But fact that a whole passel of lawyers were willing to put their names on it, when no one at EDVA would touch the Comey and James indictments with a 10-foot pole, suggests that Bolton is going to be in for a rough ride.
US v. Bolton [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
The post John Bolton Plays Stupid Games, Wins Stupid Prizes appeared first on Above the Law.
For a smart guy, John Bolton is kind of an idiot.
If the indictment that dropped yesterday is correct, he sent regular emails to his wife and daughter for more than a year detailing every interesting thing that happened to him as National Security Advisor “For Diary in the future!!!” And by “diary” he meant the book that he pitched to publishers five seconds after being fired in September of 2019.
Lots of the interesting things that he was chitchatting about on his AOL and Gmail accounts allegedly involved national defense information:
On or about July 23, 2018, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a message that stated, “More stuff coming!!!” A few minutes later, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a 24-page document which described information that BOLTON learned while National Security Advisor. Less than three hours later, BOLTON sent Individuals 1 and 2 a follow-up message that stated, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, Individual 1 sent a message that stated, “Shhhhh.”
According to the indictment, Iranian hackers accessed these emails and even taunted Bolton, saying “This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary’s emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side!”
Joke’s on you, Iranian hackers!
The entire premise of Bolton’s book is that Trump is vengeful and stupid. His LiveJournal coincides with Trump’s shakedown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Joe Biden. And yet Bolton seems to have been remarkably unconcerned about blowback as he prepared to embarrass the shit out of the guy willing to leave thousands of human beings vulnerable to Russian attacks for political advantage. Bolton was, as he said, in The Room Where It Happened (affiliate link), and yet it seems not to have occurred to him that it could happen to him. Which is even weirder, since it had just happened to former CIA Director David Patraeus, who detailed his adventures in real time to his biographer (with whom he was having an affair), and later pleaded to mishandling classified information.
Did it not occur to Bolton that he was handing Trump a giant stick to beat him with?
Back in 2020, Trump contented himself with boning the prepublication review of Bolton’s book, bottling it up until Bolton abandoned the process and went to press without the government’s blessing.
Now Trump is back in the White House, and weaponizing the DOJ against all his enemies. And the fact that everyone does it this way will not protect you from an 18-count indictment for violating the Espionage Act.
A quick glance at the signature blocks makes it clear that this is not some bullshit charge brought by an insurance lawyer because Tish James let her niece live in a tiny house in Norfolk.
Bolton’s indictment is signed by the highly competent US Attorney for Maryland, Kelly Hayes, Thomas Sullivan, Chief of the District’s National Security and Cybercrime Section, plus four more lawyers:
James’s indictment sig block:
Comey’s indictment sig block:
Abbe Lowell, who is representing Bolton, scoffs that there is nothing here.
“These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021,” he told the Washington Post.
And that may be true! But fact that a whole passel of lawyers were willing to put their names on it, when no one at EDVA would touch the Comey and James indictments with a 10-foot pole, suggests that Bolton is going to be in for a rough ride.
US v. Bolton [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
