John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor during the first Trump administration. AFP Yonhap News. 

John Bolton, who served as White House National Security Advisor during Donald Trump's first term and was involved in North Korea-U.S. negotiations, was indicted on the 16th (local time) on charges of leaking classified government information.

According to reports including the Washington Post (WP), a federal grand jury in Maryland indicted Bolton on 18 counts of illegally retaining and disclosing national defense secrets, including top-secret information.

According to the indictment, Bolton shared hundreds of pages of "diary-like" documents detailing his work as National Security Advisor from April 2018 to September 2019 with two relatives who lacked security clearances.

The personal email account he used to send the materials to his relatives was later hacked, an incident U.S. authorities believe was linked to the Iranian government.

Prosecutors also alleged that Bolton printed out a significant volume of classified materials and stored them at his home in Maryland without authorization.

Judicial authorities conducted searches of Bolton’s home and office last August, seizing computers, phones, and a large quantity of documents.

Reuters, NBC, and other outlets reported, citing sources, that Bolton is expected to surrender voluntarily to investigative authorities on the 17th—the day after the indictment—and appear in a Maryland court on the same day.

According to these sources, federal prosecutors and Bolton's legal team have been discussing the details of his voluntary surrender since the indictment was announced.

Sources stated that Bolton is expected to surrender on the morning of the 17th and will be taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service before appearing in court.

John Bolton's memoir, 'The Room Where It Happened.' AFP=Yonhap News. 

Following the indictment, Bolton released a statement expressing his intent to fight the charges, saying, "I look forward to the battle to expose his (President Trump’s) abuse of power and to defend my own lawful actions."

Abbe Lowell, Bolton's attorney, emphasized that some of the charges relate to Bolton's personal diary, stating, "These were not classified and were shared only with immediate family members."

Lowell also asserted that the hacking incident mentioned in the indictment had been reported to the FBI in 2021 and was already known to the bureau.

"Like many public officials before him, Mr. Bolton kept a diary; doing so is not a crime," Lowell added.

Bolton was dismissed as National Security Advisor after clashing with President Trump over major foreign policy issues. Since then, he has relentlessly criticized Trump in media interviews, and his indictment has sparked controversy over political retaliation.

In his 2020 book, 'The Room Where It Happened,' he portrayed President Trump critically. At the time, the Department of Justice investigated whether Bolton had disclosed classified information in the book but chose not to indict him.

The New York Times (NYT) noted that while the investigation into Bolton gained momentum under the previous Biden administration, the indictment comes at a time when political rivals of President Trump—such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey—are facing successive legal setbacks, making the move difficult to shield from accusations of political retribution.

John Bolton and President Trump during the first Trump administration. AFP=Yonhap News.

Major U.S. media outlets have also voiced criticism regarding the indictment of Bolton.

In an editorial on the same day, the WP diagnosed the indictment as part of a "pattern of selective prosecution."

The paper reiterated its own reporting that while the investigation into Bolton technically originated during the Biden administration, high-ranking Justice Department officials pressured the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland to expedite the indictment.

The WP further pointed out that the indictment includes criticisms Bolton made earlier this year regarding Trump administration officials discussing airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen via the messaging app 'Signal,' noting that this "not only strengthens Bolton’s arguments in court but also suggests the true meaning behind this prosecution."

The WSJ also argued in an editorial that the lesson to be learned from the Bolton indictment is that "opposing President Trump is very dangerous, but working for him is equally dangerous."

The WSJ pointed out, "There is no doubt that retribution is the fundamental motive for this prosecution," adding, "It is no exaggeration to say that if Mr. Bolton had praised President Trump in his book, he would not have been indicted."

When asked about Bolton's indictment during a White House event, President Trump replied, "I didn't know about it," and repeatedly added, "He's a bad guy."

Yonhap News