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The Justice Department has taken the extraordinary step of indicting former National Security Adviser John Bolton on 18 counts related to the mishandling of classified national defense information, a development that landed in federal court this week and sent shockwaves through Washington. This is not a garden-variety paperwork error — prosecutors allege serious violations that, if proven, could justify stiff penalties and underscore real national security dangers.
According to the indictment, the counts include alleged unlawful transmission and unlawful retention of national defense information, with FBI search warrants earlier this year producing materials described as secret and top secret from Bolton’s home and office. Prosecutors also say some of the material flowed through a personal email account that was later compromised by actors tied to Iran, a chilling detail that turns careless record-keeping into a potential intelligence catastrophe.
Conservatives must be clear-eyed: protecting classified information is non-negotiable, and anyone who recklessly endangers American secrets deserves thorough, impartial scrutiny. At the same time, the timing and pattern of prosecutions under this Justice Department raise legitimate alarms about selective enforcement and political targeting — concerns many on our side have warned about for years.
We should not pretend every high-profile indictment is purely partisan theater; national security offenses are uniquely dangerous and the public expects accountability regardless of party. Yet the Biden-era DOJ’s record — and the fact that this probe reaches a former senior official involved in contentious policy battles — demands transparency about investigative origins, decision-making criteria, and whether similar cases are being treated the same way.
Remember how Bolton’s memoir sparked a separate legal fight in 2020, when questions over prepublication review and classified content were litigated in court; that background colors the prosecution and fuels Bolton’s insistence that he complied with the rules. Conservatives should demand the Justice Department explain why years-old disputes now produce criminal charges, and whether political grudges are shaping prosecutorial aggression.
Those who defend national security must also defend the rule of law. If career prosecutors legitimately found evidence of unlawful transmission and retention, as the indictment asserts, they should pursue the case vigorously and fairly; if the decision is politically driven, Republicans must push back and hold officials accountable. The GOP’s response should be principled: insist on evidence-based prosecutions, equal treatment under the law, and protections for the classified information that keeps Americans safe.
This moment is a test for patriotic conservatives: we must oppose politicized justice while standing unflinchingly for national security. Demand transparency, demand fairness, and demand that our institutions be restored to their proper role protecting America rather than settling scores. The American people deserve no less.
