The Justice Department’s surprise indictment of former national security adviser John Bolton this week marks another dramatic turn in Washington’s post-election purge, as a Maryland grand jury returned an 18-count indictment accusing Bolton of unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information. Bolton was charged after FBI searches in August reportedly seized documents marked as classified, and authorities say he shared diary-like notes via a personal email account that was later compromised.
Prosecutors allege Bolton transmitted more than a thousand pages of sensitive material to relatives and kept printed records in his Maryland home while preparing his memoir, a book that already drew scrutiny years ago for its disclosures. The indictment points to a personal email and messaging usage that, according to investigators, exposed material to foreign actors — a charge that, if true, would be reckless for anyone who once sat in the nation’s most sensitive security meetings.
Bolton entered a not-guilty plea in Greenbelt and was released pending further proceedings, setting up what will likely become a politically charged trial over how the government handles classified information and who gets held accountable. Each count carries serious prison exposure, and the government insists career prosecutors — not political appointees — brought the case, a detail meant to inoculate the move from cries of partisan retribution.
Conservatives should not reflexively defend every official who once worked in Republican administrations, but neither should we accept a pattern in which law enforcement looks selective and vindictive. This is the third high-profile prosecution of a Trump critic in recent weeks, and Americans have a right to ask whether the justice system is being used as a political cudgel rather than a neutral arbiter.
Victor Davis Hanson didn’t mince words on Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight, warning that Bolton — who long cultivated a hawkish, get-tough reputation and then turned into an outspoken critic of the president who appointed him — “is going to have to pay the price,” a blunt line that echoes a broader conservative call for real accountability when national security is endangered. Whether you love Bolton’s foreign-policy instincts or despise his betrayal of the Trump administration, accountability must be blind and evenhanded — not selective theater.
At the same time, patriots should be wary of a weaponized Department of Justice that pursues political opponents while leaving real national security threats untouched. If the facts support prosecution, then prosecute; if the facts don’t, then this spectacle will look like revenge. The conservative movement has to demand both tough enforcement of laws that protect secrets and equal treatment under the law for all Americans.
This moment is a test of principle for the right: defend the rule of law without becoming its cloak for partisan payback. Respect for national security means holding anyone who recklessly endangers classified material to account, but respect for liberty means insisting that prosecutions are based on law and evidence — not political score-settling. If conservatives stand for anything, it must be equal justice and the preservation of the institutions that keep our nation safe.
