In 2012, referring to Bradley Manning (now known as Chelsea Manning), John Bolton said, “I believe treason is still punishable by death, and if he were found guilty I’d do it.” In 2013, on Fox News, Bolton said, “My view is that [Edward] Snowden committed treason. He ought to be convicted of that and then he ought to swing from a tall oak tree.” In 2022, on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Bolton said that Julian Assange, who didn't steal or mishandle any classified documents, should get at least 176 years in jail.
That's two death sentences and a life sentence that the greatest warmonger of the last several decades, whose foreign policy is radical even by neocon standards, has called for violations of the Espionage Act. But on June 4th, Bolton reached a plea deal with the federal government over mishandling of classified documents, a violation of the Espionage Act.
How many years behind bars does 77-year-old Bolton deserve? He's an old man, but a vicious old man who's never shown mercy to those who’ve previously mishandled classified documents. Who can feel sorry for him?
The prosecution of Bolton isn’t just another example of frivolous, revenge-based lawfare from Trump's DOJ, as in the case of James Comey's silly indictment for posting some pictures of sea shells arranged on the beach. The DOJ started looking into Bolton during the Biden administration, but they let it fizzle out, probably because he'd become Trump's enemy.
Trump's Justice Department then ran with it, which isn't surprising, given that Bolton sent out so much classified material on email while he was working in the Trump White House.
The lead prosecutor in the case isn’t a political appointee. Thomas Sullivan, with the Justice Department since 2009, also worked on the Biden classified documents investigation under special counsel Robert Hur.
According to prosecutors, a hacker believed to be associated with the Iranian government gained access to Bolton's personal AOL email account in 2021. The account allegedly contained sensitive material prosecutors described as classified or national defense information. Most secretaries in the nation’s capital know that email is about the most reckless way to transmit any sort of sensitive documents.
Trump stripped Bolton of his security clearance on the first day he returned to the presidency. Even though his former, fired advisor practically handed Iran classified information, the logical response—denying him future access to such information—caused an uproar among the Democrats, who'd always hated the belligerent militarist. Trump Derangement Syndrome usually trumps principles, so they embrace any Trump enemy, no matter how many “endless wars” he’s advocated for. The ultra-hawk sometimes known as “Bomb Iran Bolton” has called for regime change in Iran umpteen times over the years—the same regime change current Democrats hate so much.
Bolton allegedly shared more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as National Security Advisor with his wife and daughter, via AOL, Gmail, and commercial messaging apps. These documents revealed such things as a foreign adversary's missile launch plans and information about foreign partners sharing sensitive intelligence with the U.S. For years, Bolton was feeding family members, who were working on his memoir, top secret information for his own profit.
Simon and Schuster paid Bolton $2 million for that book, which sold 780,000 copies in its first week alone. But cash earned from criminal activity can be clawed back, as Bolton has discovered.
The law Bolton has pleaded guilty to is black and white. Catching someone with classified documents is all it takes to prove guilt, no excuses accepted. The only reason Joe Biden escaped an indictment on similar charges is that the prosecutor felt sorry for a doddering old man. Bolton has to be hoping for the same sort of grace.
At the time she released classified documents, Chelsea Manning was a young, isolated soldier who was motivated to tell the truth after learning about an incident in which an American Apache helicopter in Baghdad killed Reuters journalists and Iraqi civilians, after which the helicopter crew was seen laughing on cockpit footage. She believed that the American people should know about war crimes committed in the name of their flag.
Edward Snowden's motivation for releasing classified documents was what he saw as the government's unconstitutional mass surveillance of its citizens. Working with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, he withheld information he thought would cause harm.
Julian Assange was wary of secretive organizations like governments, corporations, and militaries that depend on the free flow of internal information to continue their oppressive activities. He believed that the release of that information was beneficial to society. And unlike Bolton, he didn't sneak classified information out of the White House. He was a journalist who received such information from his sources.
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg did something similar when he released the classified Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, which is now considered one of the most consequential acts in the history of American journalism.
John Bolton shared none of the altruistic motivations of the above group—a group that paid a severe price for their actions. Bolton did it for the money, and the case is merit-based whether or not Trump chose to press it out of vindictiveness. That's why he took the plea deal.
Under his plea deal agreement, he faces up to 60 months in jail and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.2 million. His reputation has been destroyed, but he did that to himself, and not for a noble cause.
The $2.25 million fine figure is locked in, making the length of the prison sentence the only variable. If someone calls for standards of justice for other people in his same criminal category that are sadistic, then he should be held to the same standards and same punishments.
But, per the plea deal, he can only get five years behind bars.