Turley: John Bolton Indictment ‘Shows a Level of Casual Treatment of Intelligence Information’

Jones: “I just went through some of the documents that he had. So, there was info on future attacks, foreign intel sharing. Adversary, covert action, sensitive human intel sources and covert operation and assessments. Just face value, you know, can you talk about political targeting and all of that, but that is damning evidence from the Bureau.”
TURLEY: “It’s very damning. And we still have to learn about the timeline of when this information was transmitted, but certainly, this information is classified at the highest levels because this is information that’d get people killed. I mean, this is the type of information that, if it gets out, can reveal sources and methods that represent really threatening consequences for national security. And keep in mind that in an earlier case, a federal judge said that he could not force Bolton to bring back and destroy all of the books that he had published with this company, but he said, ‘You did undermine national security.’ This book does that. And so that’s sort of the context here. The other thing about this, Lawrence, is that this was a longstanding series of objections. He was investigated during the Biden Administration before that was scuttled. But he had basically defied a lot of the objections from the intelligence community. And now this indictment says that he was sending this information to what appears to be his wife and daughter, who, of course, have no clearances, and then it might have even been hacked by the Iranian government or its associates.”
Jones: “I know it’s not necessary to prove intent, but it does make it more difficult for him that they warned him before he decided to do this. And, yet, he kind of scuffed at it and proceeded. I want to go to his comments back in January 2023. This is what he had to say about handling classified documents. Let’s watch it.”

[Clip starts]
BOLTON: “It sets a bad example for the thousands of other people in the federal bureaucracy who have security clearances. Because if the people at the top can be casual about it and then get away with it, that is not a good lesson to teach.”
[Clip ends]

Jones: “It’s like on those moments, the audacity for me. Like, how could you be so strong and then we find all this information?”
TURLEY: “Well, you know, Lawrence, those clips, I can tell you as a criminal defense attorney, probably rule out his ever being put on the stand. Because while the court might not allow those to be admitted initially, they very well could be admitted to impeach him or rebut him. And I don’t think he can take the risk because he looks like an utter hypocrite. I mean, this indictment really shows a level of casual treatment of intelligence information. It’s quite shocking. He comes across like a teenager in a chat room. I mean, he’s sending this stuff by email after all the controversies that we have had for years about trying to secure this type of information. And, Lawrence, there is two arguments here that will not work. One is, well, this is just old classified material. That doesn’t fly. I mean, the question is, is it classified or not? That’s why jurors tend to view these as rather cut-and-dry questions. The other argument that sort of suggested by his counsel is, well, everyone does this, this is just keeping a diary. That’s not going to work either. You know, whether you transmit the document or the contents, it’s classified and it’s subject to these criminal laws.”