John Bolton says he hopes to expose Trump’s ‘abuse of power’ after being indicted – US politics live | US news
John Bolton indicted on charges of mishandling classified information
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with this news The justice department has filed federal charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, accusing him of transmitting and withholding highly classified information under the Espionage Act..
The 18-count indictment was handed down Thursday by a grand jury in federal district court in Maryland. Bolton was accused of sending diary entries to two unnamed individuals about his daily activities while he was national security adviser, much of which contained highly classified information.
The indictment marks the third time in recent weeks that the justice department has filed criminal charges against a Trump critic. In response to a question about the accusations, Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was unaware of them but that Bolton was a “bad guy.”
While Bolton left the White House on bad terms, the criminal investigation gained momentum following revelations that disturbed the US intelligence community during the Biden administration.
The justice department is pursuing Espionage Act cases in cases of so-called “additive factors”: intentional misuse of classified information, large amounts of classified information to support an inference of wrongdoing, disloyalty to the United States, and obstruction.
“BOLTON took detailed notes documenting his daily meetings, activities, and briefings. BOLTON frequently hand-wrote these notes on yellow legal pads throughout the day at the White House complex or other secure locations and later retyped his notes in a word processing document,” the indictment states.
“BOLTON’s notes to Individuals 1 and 2, using his nongovernmental email accounts and messaging account, described in detail BOLTON’s daily activities as National Security Advisor. BOLTON’s notes generally described the secure environment or environment in which he learned the national defense and classified information he referred to in his notes.”
“I look forward to his fight to defend my lawful conduct and expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said in a statement. Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said his client did not commit a crime.
Read our full story here:
In other developments:
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to the White House on Friday for an important meeting with Donald Trump, just hours after the US president announced that he had agreed to a new summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a “very productive” meeting. It is expected that the possible supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda during the visit of the Ukrainian president.
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New York City’s three mayoral candidates faced off Thursday night in the first of two televised debates, less than three weeks before voters head to the polls. On stage were Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew from the race a few weeks ago, did not participate in the race.
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After a federal judge last month dismissed Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, book publisher Penguin Random House and two Times reporters, the US president filed a 40-page amended complaint on Thursday. U.S. district court judge Steven Merryday in Florida gave Trump 28 days to refile and amend the lawsuit he filed on September 19.
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Amid rising tensions with Venezuela and US military strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, the US admiral who commands military forces in Latin America will resign at the end of this year, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said. announced on social media. Executive Alvin HolseyTrump’s abrupt departure comes less than a year after he became head of the U.S. military’s southern command, which oversees operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The appointment usually lasts three years.
-
The U.S. Senate failed Thursday to reopen the government and vote to fund the military during the federal government shutdown, extending the standoff into next week. The Senate vote on the short-term Republican funding bill failed for the 10th time by just 51 votes.
-
More than two centuries have passed since France celebrated Emperor Napoleon’s birthday by laying the cornerstone of the Arc de Triomphe. Now Donald Trump has imperial ambitions of his own. On Wednesday, the US president unveiled plans for a massive arch in Washington, currently dubbed the “Trump Arch”.
important events
A phone call between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin showed that the Russian President was reacting to pressure for serious peace talks, a German government spokesman said on Friday.
“There is an urgent need to increase pressure on Vladimir Putin for serious peace talks,” the spokesman said.
“He is reacting to the pressure… This phone call yesterday also showed that this is a result of decisions based on the statements of the US side.”
Anna Betts
New York City’s three mayoral candidates faced off Thursday night in the first of two televised debates, less than three weeks before voters head to the polls.
On stage were Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew from the race a few weeks ago, did not participate in the race.
During the two-hour debate, the candidates clashed over a variety of local and national issues, including crime, policing, affordability, housing and transportation, as well as how they would handle the Trump administration and the recent Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The frontrunners in the race, Mamdani and Cuomo, wasted no time and immediately began debating, including Sliwa.
Cuomo has been specifically attempting a political comeback after resigning as governor of New York in 2021 following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He began the night by repeating his performance in the primary debates, painting Mamdani as too unqualified and inexperienced to lead the city.
“This is not a job that lends itself to on-the-job training,” Cuomo said. “When you look at the unsuccessful mayors, they were people with no management experience.”
Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblywoman from Queens and a self-described democratic socialist, opposed Cuomo, citing her five years in the New York state legislature and her experience in New York City. He presented himself as “someone who actually paid rent in the city” and “someone who had to wait for the bus that never came, but actually bought food in this city.”
Cuomo fired back: “The congressman said he had no experience.”
Mamdani retorted: “What I lack in experience I make up for in honesty, and what you lack in integrity you can never make up for in experience.”
John Bolton indicted on charges of mishandling classified information
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with this news The justice department has filed federal charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, accusing him of transmitting and withholding highly classified information under the Espionage Act..
The 18-count indictment was handed down Thursday by a grand jury in federal district court in Maryland. Bolton was accused of sending diary entries to two unnamed individuals about his daily activities while he was national security adviser, much of which contained highly classified information.
The indictment marks the third time in recent weeks that the justice department has filed criminal charges against a Trump critic. In response to a question about the accusations, Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was unaware of them but that Bolton was a “bad guy.”
While Bolton left the White House on bad terms, the criminal investigation gained momentum following revelations that disturbed the US intelligence community during the Biden administration.
The justice department is pursuing Espionage Act cases in cases of so-called “additive factors”: intentional misuse of classified information, large amounts of classified information to support an inference of wrongdoing, disloyalty to the United States, and obstruction.
“BOLTON took detailed notes documenting his daily meetings, activities, and briefings. BOLTON frequently hand-wrote these notes on yellow legal pads throughout the day at the White House complex or other secure locations and later retyped his notes in a word processing document,” the indictment states.
“BOLTON’s notes to Individuals 1 and 2, using his nongovernmental email accounts and messaging account, described in detail BOLTON’s daily activities as National Security Advisor. BOLTON’s notes generally described the secure environment or environment in which he learned the national defense and classified information he referred to in his notes.”
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said in a statement. Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said his client did not commit a crime.
Read our full story here:
In other developments:
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to the White House on Friday for an important meeting with Donald Trump, just hours after the US president announced that he had agreed to a new summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a “very productive” meeting. It is expected that the possible supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda during the visit of the Ukrainian president.
-
New York City’s three mayoral candidates faced off Thursday night in the first of two televised debates, less than three weeks before voters head to the polls. On stage were Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams, who withdrew from the race a few weeks ago, did not participate in the race.
-
After a federal judge last month dismissed Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, book publisher Penguin Random House and two Times reporters, the US president filed a 40-page amended complaint on Thursday. U.S. district court judge Steven Merryday in Florida gave Trump 28 days to refile and amend the lawsuit he filed on September 19.
-
The US admiral who commands military forces in Latin America amid rising tensions with Venezuela and US military strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean will resign at the end of this year, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said. announced on social media. Executive Alvin HolseyTrump’s abrupt departure comes less than a year after he became head of the U.S. military’s southern command, which oversees operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The appointment usually lasts three years.
-
The U.S. Senate failed Thursday to reopen the government and vote to fund the military during the federal government shutdown, extending the standoff into next week. The Senate vote on the short-term Republican funding bill failed for the 10th time by just 51 votes.
-
More than two centuries have passed since France celebrated Emperor Napoleon’s birthday by laying the cornerstone of the Arc de Triomphe. Now Donald Trump has imperial ambitions of his own. On Wednesday, the US president unveiled plans for a massive arch in Washington, currently dubbed the “Trump Arch”.
