Top DOJ Officials Moving to Charge John Bolton Immediately: Report

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton may soon face federal charges for mishandling classified documents, according to new reports.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, suggested charges could come as early as this week, though internal Justice Department debates could push the timeline later in the year. Reuters likewise reported that the dispute within DOJ is not over whether to charge Bolton, but when.

“Prosecutors in the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office, which is leading the Bolton probe, and attorneys from the department’s National Security Division are pushing back against pressure from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office,” Reuters reported. Prosecutors are reportedly being urged to bring their case before a grand jury next week. CNN also noted senior DOJ officials have floated replacing the current prosecutors on the case.

The controversy comes on the heels of former FBI Director James Comey’s indictment Thursday on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, according to Fox News.

Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, has insisted his client did nothing improper. “The documents with classification markings from the period 1998 – 2006 date back to Ambassador Bolton’s time in the George W. Bush Administration,” Lowell said in a Wednesday statement. “An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton.”

Yet FBI agents reportedly discovered sensitive materials during an August 22 search of Bolton’s Washington office. Politico said those documents referenced weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the United Nations, and strategic communications records. A subsequent search of Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home yielded electronic devices but no additional classified material.

Court filings indicate prosecutors are pursuing potential violations of three felony statutes, including gathering, transmitting, or losing national defense information under the Espionage Act, and retaining classified materials without authorization.

Vice President J.D. Vance previously addressed the probe when it first surfaced. “If they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determine that he has broken the law,” Vance told Newsweek. “You shouldn’t throw people willy-nilly in prison. You should let the law drive these determinations, and that’s what we’re doing.”

If charges proceed, Bolton would join a growing list of former high-ranking officials ensnared in classified documents scandals. For conservatives, the irony is glaring: Bolton, once a top Trump aide turned vocal critic of the president, may now find himself facing accountability under the same justice system he once championed.