The man who was so eager to destroy whistleblowers faces prison for leaking classified intel<\/p>\n
Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton has been indicted in Maryland on 18 federal counts of violating the Espionage Act, which is kind of poetic for a guy who\u2019s spent a career demanding that everyone else get indicted for leaking things.
\nBolton pleaded not guilty and will now enjoy the same due process that he\u2019s long tried to deny whistleblowers, journalists, and the occasional sovereign nation.
\nAccording to the indictment,\u00a0\u2018Bomb Iran\u2019 Bolton spent roughly a year and a half as Trump\u2019s top advisor firing off around a thousand pages of top-secret national security info \u2013 not to the Russians, not to the Chinese, but to his wife and daughter, neither of whom have security clearances, through the same email accounts most people use to share dog-in-costume photos and mid-vacation thirst traps.\u00a0Which kind of defeats the purpose of the ultra-secure government server system the White House built for him. Why use an encrypted military network when you have AOL, the preferred platform for septuagenarians?
\nBolton isn\u2019t accused of sending the original classified documents themselves \u2013 just writing out classified intel in the form of \u201cnotes,\u201d like some kind of 19th-century clerk. A true craftsman.
\nAnd why would he do that? Glad you asked. Hit it, John! \u201cFor Diary in the future!!!\u201d That\u2019s what Bolton allegedly texted when his own family asked what the hell he was doing.<\/p>\n
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FBI raids John Bolton\u2019s home in national security probe \u2013 media (VIDEO)<\/p>\n
During a 2018 trip coinciding with Trump\u2019s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki \u2013 Bolton arrived the day before \u2013 one of his relatives allegedly asked whether they\u2019d be getting their daily classified diary installment. You\u2019d assume that he\u2019d say something like, \u201cSorry, can\u2019t talk, secret stuff going on here.\u201d But nope. He was just busy doing something other than reporting secret stuff back to the fam, noting that there was \u201ctoo much going on!!!\u201d But then, days later, \u201cMore stuff coming!!!\u201d followed by a 24-page report, \u201cnone of which we can talk about,\u201d before a family member allegedly complained that it was boring. Yeah, come on, John, Netflix isn\u2019t going to want to buy this boring trash!
\nA few months later, when a relative was reportedly having a bad day, Bolton allegedly replied with 20 more pages of classified information and a cheery note: \u201cStuff coming to cheer you\u2026 up!!!\u201d Who hasn\u2019t used secrets like a Hallmark card for a loved one\u2019s depression?
\nThis allegedly went on for months \u2013 Bolton treating US intelligence more casually than a teenager working at McDonald\u2019s treats the recipe for the Big Mac\u2019s secret sauce. The info in question? Oh, just a little light reading: planned attacks, missile launches, covert ops, and profiles of foreign leaders. Basically, the director\u2019s cut of How to Start World War III.
\nThen, after Bolton left his job, his lawyer reportedly told authorities that Bolton\u2019s personal accounts had been hacked, possibly by \u2013 wait for it \u2013 Iran, the very country he\u2019s spent decades fantasizing about bombing. According to the indictment, the hackers may have even had proof of possessing material from Bolton\u2019s \u201cdiaries.\u201d
\nSo if the facts hold up, that means Bolton accidentally handed Iran sensitive US intelligence. By Bolton\u2019s own logic, that\u2019s grounds for a \u201csurgical strike\u201d on John Bolton.<\/p>\n
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Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton charged with mishandling secret documents<\/p>\n
Sure, intent matters. Maybe he didn\u2019t mean for his \u2018Dear Diary\u2019\u00a0to end up in Tehran. But let\u2019s recall what Bolton thinks about good intentions.
\n\u201cI hope he gets at least 176 years in jail for what he did,\u201d Bolton told Stella Assange \u2013 Julian Assange\u2019s wife \u2013 live on Piers Morgan\u2019s show in 2022, about the Wikileaks founder having published classified disclosures related to government wrongdoing.
\nAnd in an earlier think-tank piece, Bolton practically shouted from the rooftops: \u201cAs for WikiLeaks itself, and anyone cooperating with its malicious enterprise, now is the time to test our cyber-warfare capabilities. Fire away.\u201d
\nHe wasn\u2019t any less belligerent with whistleblower Edward Snowden, who exposed the NSA\u2019s mass surveillance dragnet collecting data on the US\u2019 own citizens. \u201cSnowden committed treason and ought to be convicted of that and ought to swing from a tall oak tree.\u201d\u00a0The man now facing Espionage Act charges for mishandling classified material once called for hanging another guy for mishandling classified material.
\nBolton has also said that Iran \u2013 the same country that should really give him a medal for unwittingly serving its intelligence apparatus, if these charges are any indication \u2013 should be bombed to stop it from getting nukes.\u00a0He has also called for the same treatment for Syria and North Korea, because apparently his version of diplomacy is \u201cjust blow it up.\u201d
\nIf the charges stick, we may soon see the rare spectacle of John Bolton demanding that the coordinates of his own behind be plugged in for a military strike, preceded perhaps by a reminder from himself to himself that \u201cBoomer energy\u201d isn\u2019t a valid defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The man who was so eager to destroy whistleblowers faces prison for leaking classified intel Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton has been indicted in Maryland on 18 federal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t