Difference between revisions of "John Bolton"

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[[File:256px-John Bolton.jpg|200px|thumb|right|John Bolton]]
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{{short description|'''US diplomat and Republican official; Ambassador to the United Nations 2005–2006 and National Security Adviser 2018–2019'''}}
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John Bolton is a leading [[neocon]] and the current US ambassador to the UN. He is the winner of [[Zionist Organization of America]]'s 2006 Defender of Israel Award – given to him for the role he played in undermining the "Zionism is Racism" declaration at the United Nations Anti-Racism conference in Durban, South Africa.
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{{Infobox person
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| name        = John Bolton
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| image        = 256px-John Bolton.jpg
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| caption      = Bolton in 2011 (photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0)
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| birth_date  = {{Start date|1948}}
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| nationality  = American
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| residence    = Bethesda, Maryland
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| occupation  = Lawyer; diplomat; government official
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| known_for    = US Ambassador to the [[United Nations]] (2005–2006); National Security Adviser to [[Donald Trump]] (2018–2019); guilty plea to retaining national defence information (2026)
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}}
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'''John R Bolton''' is a leading [[neocon]] and a former US ambassador to the United Nations.  In March 2018 President Donald Trump announced he was appointing Bolton as his new national security adviser following the removal of [[H.R. McMaster]]. He served from April 2018 until September 2019, when Trump announced that he had fired him and Bolton said he had resigned.<ref name="BBCOut2019">BBC News, [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49655279 John Bolton: Trump's national security adviser is out], 10 September 2019, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref> In October 2025 he was indicted on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining national defence information.<ref name="DOJBolton2025">US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, [https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-statements-regarding-indictment-former-national-security-advisor-john Justice Department Statements Regarding Indictment of Former National Security Advisor John Bolton], 16 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref> On 26 June 2026 he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful retention, and his sentencing was set for 4 December 2026.<ref name="CLBolton">US District Court for the District of Maryland, [https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71668415/united-states-v-bolton/ United States v. Bolton, 8:25-cr-00314] (docket), via CourtListener, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
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He is the winner of [[Zionist Organization of America]]'s 2006 Defender of Israel Award &ndash; given to him for the role he played in undermining the "Zionism is Racism" declaration at the United Nations Anti-Racism conference in Durban, South Africa.
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==Government career==
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The State Department's Office of the Historian records three State Department posts held by Bolton, a non-career appointee resident in Maryland:<ref name="StateHistBolton">Office of the Historian, US Department of State, [https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bolton-john-r John R. Bolton (1948–)], accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
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{| class="wikitable"
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|+ Government posts
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! Post !! Appointed / took office !! Left !! Source
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|-
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| Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs || Appointed 5 May 1989; entered on duty 22 May 1989 || 19 January 1993 || <ref name="StateHistBolton" />
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|-
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| Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs || Appointed 9 May 2001; entered on duty 11 May 2001 || 31 July 2005 || <ref name="StateHistBolton" />
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|-
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| US Permanent Representative to the United Nations (recess appointment) || Appointed 1 August 2005; credentials presented 2 August 2005 || 31 December 2006 || <ref name="StateHistBolton" />
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|-
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| National Security Adviser to President [[Donald Trump]] || April 2018 || 10 September 2019 || <ref name="BBCOut2019" />
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|}
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His UN appointment was "commissioned during a recess of the Senate".<ref name="StateHistBolton" /> Stephen Sniegoski lists Bolton's appointment as Under Secretary among the key defence and national security posts filled by [[Neoconservatives Portal|neoconservatives]] when the [[George W. Bush]] administration took office.<ref name="Sniegoski2008">Stephen J. Sniegoski, ''The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel'', Norfolk, VA: Enigma Editions, 2008, p. 113.</ref> Sniegoski also writes that Bolton, "a former member of [[Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs|JINSA]]", flew to Europe in 2002 to demand the resignation of [[José Bustani]], director-general of the [[Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]] (OPCW), and then "orchestrated his firing". Bustani was removed at a special session of the OPCW in April 2002, and the UN's highest administrative tribunal later called his removal an "unacceptable violation" of principles protecting international civil servants.<ref name="Sniegoski2008p176">Sniegoski, ''The Transparent Cabal'', p. 176.</ref>
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==National Security Adviser, 2018–2019==
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Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, after [[Mike Flynn|Michael Flynn]] and [[H.R. McMaster]], and served from April 2018.<ref name="BBCOut2019" /> The BBC described him as "the chief architect of Mr Trump's hard-line stance on Iran". It reported that US officials blamed him for the collapse of the February 2019 summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader [[Kim Jong Un|Kim Jong-un]], after he put forward "a list of uncompromising demands", and that Trump had reportedly complained Bolton misled him about how easy it would be to replace Venezuela's president, [[Nicolás Maduro]].<ref name="BBCOut2019" />
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In January 2019 Bolton's National Security Council took on [[Richard Goldberg]], a senior adviser at the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]] (FDD), as Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction. Goldberg had been the lead congressional staff negotiator on Iran sanctions for Senator [[Mark Kirk]].<ref name="JIGoldberg2019">Jacob Kornbluh, [https://jewishinsider.com/2019/01/richard-goldberg-join-white-house-nsc/ Richard Goldberg to join White House NSC], ''Jewish Insider'', 7 January 2019, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
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On 10 September 2019 Trump tweeted: "I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning." Bolton said on Twitter that he had offered his resignation, but that Trump had told him: "Let's talk about it tomorrow."<ref name="BBCOut2019" />
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==After the White House==
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===Memoir===
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Bolton's handling of classified information came under scrutiny from 2020, when he sought to publish a book about his time in the first Trump administration. According to the BBC, a federal judge ruled against the government but rebuked Bolton, writing that he had "gambled with the national security of the United States".<ref name="BBCNotGuilty2025">Kayla Epstein, [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg43lwwdwlno Bolton pleads not guilty to charges of sharing classified information], BBC News, 17 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
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===Iranian murder-for-hire plot and security detail===
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The FBI says that from October 2021 to April 2022 [[Shahram Poursafi]], an Iran-based member of the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] (IRGC) assessed to be working for its Qods Force, tried to hire people in the United States to murder "a former USG official in Washington D.C. or Maryland" for $300,000. The US State Department offers a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to his arrest.<ref name="FBIPoursafi">Federal Bureau of Investigation, [https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/additional/shahram-poursafi Shahram Poursafi], wanted notice, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref> Fox News reported that the Justice Department charged the IRGC member in 2022 over the alleged plot against Bolton.<ref name="FoxBoltonDetail2025">Emma Colton, [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-revokes-john-boltons-secret-service-detail-amid-iranian-death-threats-former-national-security-advisor Trump revokes John Bolton's Secret Service detail amid Iranian death threats: former national security advisor], Fox News, 21 January 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
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After his second inauguration in January 2025, Trump withdrew Bolton's Secret Service protection. Bolton said he was "disappointed but not surprised". Asked why, Trump told reporters: "Because I think that was enough time."<ref name="FoxBoltonDetail2025" />
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==Classified information case, 2025–2026==
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The FBI searched Bolton's house and his Washington office in August 2025.<ref name="CBSBolton2025">Melissa Quinn, [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-bolton-pleads-not-guilty-charges-mishandling-classified-information/ John Bolton pleads not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information], CBS News, 17 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref> On 16 October 2025 a federal grand jury in Maryland indicted him on eight counts of transmitting national defence information and ten counts of unlawfully retaining it. The Justice Department said he had used "personal email and messaging application accounts to send sensitive documents classified as high as Top Secret", and had kept national defence documents in his home.<ref name="DOJBolton2025" /> According to CBS News, prosecutors alleged that from 2018 to August 2025 he shared more than 1,000 pages of "diary-like entries", some of them classified, with two unnamed relatives. They also alleged that his email account was hacked between 2019 and 2021 by a "cyber actor" believed to be associated with Iran, and that a representative who reported the hack in July 2021 did not disclose that the account held sensitive information.<ref name="CBSBolton2025" /> Bolton's lawyer, [[Abbe Lowell]], said: "Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime."<ref name="BBCNotGuilty2025" />
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Bolton pleaded not guilty on 17 October 2025.<ref name="CLBolton" /> On 26 June 2026, before Judge [[Theodore Chuang|Theodore D. Chuang]] in Greenbelt, Maryland, he pleaded guilty to count 12 (retention of national defence information) and not guilty to the other counts.<ref name="CLBolton" /> NPR reported that under the plea agreement he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $2.25 million, and would forgo government retirement benefits. In court he said: "And I am sorry for it."<ref name="NPRBoltonPlea2026">Jaclyn Diaz, [https://www.nhpr.org/2026-06-26/john-bolton-former-trump-national-security-adviser-pleads-guilty-in-classified-documents-case John Bolton, former Trump national security adviser, pleads guilty in classified documents case], NPR, 26 June 2026, republished by New Hampshire Public Radio, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref> Sentencing, first set for 28 October 2026, was moved to 4 December 2026, and both sides filed sentencing memoranda on 30 October 2026.<ref name="CLBolton" /> ''Townhall'' reported that prosecutors were seeking five years in prison and that Bolton's lawyers were asking for probation.<ref name="TownhallBolton2026">Jeff Charles, [https://townhall.com/news/jeff-charles/2026/11/03/john-bolton-begs-for-lenient-sentence-after-pleading-guilty-to-mishandling-classified-documents-n2685822 John Bolton Begs for Lenient Sentence After Pleading Guilty to Mishandling Classified Documents], ''Townhall'', 3 November 2026, accessed 9 November 2026.</ref>
  
 
==Affiliations==
 
==Affiliations==
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*[[Gatestone Institute]] - chairman of board of governors (in formation)
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*[[United against a Nuclear Iran]] (UANI)- advisory board member
 
*[[Friends of Israel Initiative]] &ndash; founder member <ref>[[Media:Friends of Israel - The Founder Members.pdf|PDF Copy]] of The Friends of Israel Initiative > About > Founder Members <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/about-advisors.php> created 15 July 2010.</ref>
 
*[[Friends of Israel Initiative]] &ndash; founder member <ref>[[Media:Friends of Israel - The Founder Members.pdf|PDF Copy]] of The Friends of Israel Initiative > About > Founder Members <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/about-advisors.php> created 15 July 2010.</ref>
 
*[[Project for the New American Century]]
 
*[[Project for the New American Century]]
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*[[Pamela Geller]] - Bolton endorse Geller's blog "Atlas Shrugs"<ref name=about>Pamela Geller, [http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/about.html "About"], Atlas Shrugs, accessed on 23 November 2010</ref>
 
*[[Pamela Geller]] - Bolton endorse Geller's blog "Atlas Shrugs"<ref name=about>Pamela Geller, [http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/about.html "About"], Atlas Shrugs, accessed on 23 November 2010</ref>
 
*[[National Council of Resistance of Iran]]<ref>NCRI, [http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/9386-international-legal-symposium-in-defense-of-ashraf "International legal symposium in defense of Ashraf"], National Council of Resistance of Iran, 5 December 2010, accessed on 21 December 2010</ref>
 
*[[National Council of Resistance of Iran]]<ref>NCRI, [http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/9386-international-legal-symposium-in-defense-of-ashraf "International legal symposium in defense of Ashraf"], National Council of Resistance of Iran, 5 December 2010, accessed on 21 December 2010</ref>
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==See also==
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* [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]]
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* [[Gatestone Institute]]
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* [[Nikki Haley]]
  
 
==External Resources==
 
==External Resources==
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<references/>
 
<references/>
 
[[Category:Neocons|Bolton, John]]
 
[[Category:Neocons|Bolton, John]]
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[[Category:Diplomats|Bolton, John]]
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[[Category:Target Iran|Bolton, John]]
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[[Category:National Security Council|Bolton, John]]

Latest revision as of 12:36, 10 November 2026

US diplomat and Republican official; Ambassador to the United Nations 2005–2006 and National Security Adviser 2018–2019

John Bolton

Image 256px-John Bolton.jpg
Bolton in 2011 (photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0)
Born 1948
Nationality American
Residence Bethesda, Maryland
Occupation Lawyer; diplomat; government official
Known for US Ambassador to the United Nations (2005–2006); National Security Adviser to Donald Trump (2018–2019); guilty plea to retaining national defence information (2026)

John R Bolton is a leading neocon and a former US ambassador to the United Nations. In March 2018 President Donald Trump announced he was appointing Bolton as his new national security adviser following the removal of H.R. McMaster. He served from April 2018 until September 2019, when Trump announced that he had fired him and Bolton said he had resigned.[1] In October 2025 he was indicted on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining national defence information.[2] On 26 June 2026 he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful retention, and his sentencing was set for 4 December 2026.[3]

He is the winner of Zionist Organization of America's 2006 Defender of Israel Award – given to him for the role he played in undermining the "Zionism is Racism" declaration at the United Nations Anti-Racism conference in Durban, South Africa.

Government career

The State Department's Office of the Historian records three State Department posts held by Bolton, a non-career appointee resident in Maryland:[4]

Government posts
Post Appointed / took office Left Source
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Appointed 5 May 1989; entered on duty 22 May 1989 19 January 1993 [4]
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Appointed 9 May 2001; entered on duty 11 May 2001 31 July 2005 [4]
US Permanent Representative to the United Nations (recess appointment) Appointed 1 August 2005; credentials presented 2 August 2005 31 December 2006 [4]
National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump April 2018 10 September 2019 [1]

His UN appointment was "commissioned during a recess of the Senate".[4] Stephen Sniegoski lists Bolton's appointment as Under Secretary among the key defence and national security posts filled by neoconservatives when the George W. Bush administration took office.[5] Sniegoski also writes that Bolton, "a former member of JINSA", flew to Europe in 2002 to demand the resignation of José Bustani, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and then "orchestrated his firing". Bustani was removed at a special session of the OPCW in April 2002, and the UN's highest administrative tribunal later called his removal an "unacceptable violation" of principles protecting international civil servants.[6]

National Security Adviser, 2018–2019

Bolton was Trump's third national security adviser, after Michael Flynn and H.R. McMaster, and served from April 2018.[1] The BBC described him as "the chief architect of Mr Trump's hard-line stance on Iran". It reported that US officials blamed him for the collapse of the February 2019 summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, after he put forward "a list of uncompromising demands", and that Trump had reportedly complained Bolton misled him about how easy it would be to replace Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro.[1]

In January 2019 Bolton's National Security Council took on Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), as Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction. Goldberg had been the lead congressional staff negotiator on Iran sanctions for Senator Mark Kirk.[7]

On 10 September 2019 Trump tweeted: "I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning." Bolton said on Twitter that he had offered his resignation, but that Trump had told him: "Let's talk about it tomorrow."[1]

After the White House

Memoir

Bolton's handling of classified information came under scrutiny from 2020, when he sought to publish a book about his time in the first Trump administration. According to the BBC, a federal judge ruled against the government but rebuked Bolton, writing that he had "gambled with the national security of the United States".[8]

Iranian murder-for-hire plot and security detail

The FBI says that from October 2021 to April 2022 Shahram Poursafi, an Iran-based member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) assessed to be working for its Qods Force, tried to hire people in the United States to murder "a former USG official in Washington D.C. or Maryland" for $300,000. The US State Department offers a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to his arrest.[9] Fox News reported that the Justice Department charged the IRGC member in 2022 over the alleged plot against Bolton.[10]

After his second inauguration in January 2025, Trump withdrew Bolton's Secret Service protection. Bolton said he was "disappointed but not surprised". Asked why, Trump told reporters: "Because I think that was enough time."[10]

Classified information case, 2025–2026

The FBI searched Bolton's house and his Washington office in August 2025.[11] On 16 October 2025 a federal grand jury in Maryland indicted him on eight counts of transmitting national defence information and ten counts of unlawfully retaining it. The Justice Department said he had used "personal email and messaging application accounts to send sensitive documents classified as high as Top Secret", and had kept national defence documents in his home.[2] According to CBS News, prosecutors alleged that from 2018 to August 2025 he shared more than 1,000 pages of "diary-like entries", some of them classified, with two unnamed relatives. They also alleged that his email account was hacked between 2019 and 2021 by a "cyber actor" believed to be associated with Iran, and that a representative who reported the hack in July 2021 did not disclose that the account held sensitive information.[11] Bolton's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said: "Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime."[8]

Bolton pleaded not guilty on 17 October 2025.[3] On 26 June 2026, before Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, he pleaded guilty to count 12 (retention of national defence information) and not guilty to the other counts.[3] NPR reported that under the plea agreement he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $2.25 million, and would forgo government retirement benefits. In court he said: "And I am sorry for it."[12] Sentencing, first set for 28 October 2026, was moved to 4 December 2026, and both sides filed sentencing memoranda on 30 October 2026.[3] Townhall reported that prosecutors were seeking five years in prison and that Bolton's lawyers were asking for probation.[13]

Affiliations

See also

External Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 BBC News, John Bolton: Trump's national security adviser is out, 10 September 2019, accessed 9 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Justice Department Statements Regarding Indictment of Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, 16 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 US District Court for the District of Maryland, United States v. Bolton, 8:25-cr-00314 (docket), via CourtListener, accessed 9 November 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Office of the Historian, US Department of State, John R. Bolton (1948–), accessed 9 November 2026.
  5. ↑ Stephen J. Sniegoski, The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel, Norfolk, VA: Enigma Editions, 2008, p. 113.
  6. ↑ Sniegoski, The Transparent Cabal, p. 176.
  7. ↑ Jacob Kornbluh, Richard Goldberg to join White House NSC, Jewish Insider, 7 January 2019, accessed 9 November 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kayla Epstein, Bolton pleads not guilty to charges of sharing classified information, BBC News, 17 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.
  9. ↑ Federal Bureau of Investigation, Shahram Poursafi, wanted notice, accessed 9 November 2026.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Emma Colton, Trump revokes John Bolton's Secret Service detail amid Iranian death threats: former national security advisor, Fox News, 21 January 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Melissa Quinn, John Bolton pleads not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information, CBS News, 17 October 2025, accessed 9 November 2026.
  12. ↑ Jaclyn Diaz, John Bolton, former Trump national security adviser, pleads guilty in classified documents case, NPR, 26 June 2026, republished by New Hampshire Public Radio, accessed 9 November 2026.
  13. ↑ Jeff Charles, John Bolton Begs for Lenient Sentence After Pleading Guilty to Mishandling Classified Documents, Townhall, 3 November 2026, accessed 9 November 2026.
  14. ↑ PDF Copy of The Friends of Israel Initiative > About > Founder Members <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/about-advisors.php> created 15 July 2010.
  15. ↑ Pamela Geller, "About", Atlas Shrugs, accessed on 23 November 2010
  16. ↑ NCRI, "International legal symposium in defense of Ashraf", National Council of Resistance of Iran, 5 December 2010, accessed on 21 December 2010
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