In a dramatic turn of events, John Bolton, the former national security adviser under the Trump administration, is poised to face legal proceedings on Friday. Accused of storing top secret documents at his residence and revealing diary-like notes containing classified information to family members, Bolton’s indictment brings a wave of controversy. The charges against this high-profile figure include an 18-count federal indictment, which was unsealed on Thursday.

The case takes a more complex twist with allegations that Iranian government operatives hacked into Bolton’s email, accessing sensitive information he had shared. Despite acknowledging the breach to the FBI in 2021, Bolton reportedly withheld the fact that classified data had been compromised. This revelation raises further concerns about the security of government secrets.

Bolton, a prominent player known for his staunchly conservative views on foreign policy, served in the Trump administration until 2019 when he was dismissed. His subsequent publication of a book critical of Trump only heightened the tension between the two. Now, as Bolton prepares to address the charges in court, the case becomes the latest in a series of legal actions involving figures who have clashed with Trump.

This situation unfolds amid growing concern that the Justice Department may be selectively targeting political figures. Critics argue that the pattern of prosecuting those who have opposed Trump while appearing lenient toward his supporters is troubling. The case against Bolton, who publicly criticized Trump post-dismissal, adds fuel to this debate.

“I have become the latest victim in the Justice Department’s apparent strategy to prosecute those who are perceived as adversaries,” Bolton asserted in a statement. He suggests that the charges stem from a distorted interpretation of facts and a politically motivated agenda. As the legal proceedings commence, the focus will be on how these allegations are navigated in court.

Even so, the indictment is significantly more detailed in its allegations than earlier cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Unlike in those cases filed by a hastily appointed U.S. attorney, Bolton’s indictment was signed by career national security prosecutors. While the Bolton investigation burst into public view in August when the FBI searched his home in Maryland and his office in Washington, the inquiry was well underway by the time Trump had taken office in January.

Sharing of classified secrets

The indictment filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, alleges that between 2018 and this past August, Bolton shared with two relatives more than 1,000 pages of information about his day-to-day activities in government.

The material included “diary-like” entries with information classified as high as top secret that he had learned from meetings with other U.S. government officials, from intelligence briefings or talks with foreign leaders, according to the indictment. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of his relatives wrote, “Shhhhh,” prosecutors said.

The indictment says that among the material shared was information about foreign adversaries that in some cases revealed details about sources and methods used by the government to collect intelligence.

The two family members were not identified in court papers, but a person familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details, identified them as Bolton’s wife and daughter.

The indictment also suggests Bolton was aware of the impropriety of sharing classified information with people not authorized to receive it, citing an April news media interview in which he chastised Trump administration officials for using Signal to discuss sensitive military details. Though the anecdote is meant by prosecutors to show Bolton understood proper protocol for government secrets, Bolton’s legal team may also point to it to argue a double standard in enforcement because the Justice Department is not known to have opened any investigation into the Signal episode.

Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that the “underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago.”

He said the charges stem from portions of Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career in government and included unclassified information that was shared only with his immediate family and was known to the FBI as far back as 2021.

“Like many public officials throughout history,” Lowell said, “Bolton kept diaries — that is not a crime.” He said Bolton “did not unlawfully share or store any information.”

Controversy over a book

Bolton suggested the criminal case was an outgrowth of an unsuccessful Justice Department effort after he left government to block the publication of his 2020 book “The Room Where It Happened,” which portrayed Trump as grossly misinformed about foreign policy.

The Trump administration asserted that Bolton’s manuscript contained classified information that could harm national security if exposed. Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer had classified information.

In 2018, Bolton was appointed to serve as Trump’s third national security adviser. His brief tenure was characterized by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine. Those rifts ultimately led to Bolton’s departure.

Bolton subsequently criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, including by alleging that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine to that country’s willingness to conduct investigations into Joe Biden, who was soon to be Trump’s Democratic 2020 election rival, and members of Biden’s family.

Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a “washed-up guy” and a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”