By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senior leaders at the U.S. Justice Department are urging swift charges against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, despite hesitation from prosecutors who believe more investigation is necessary, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The move comes a week after the administration pushed out the top federal prosecutor in Virginia, angry that the department was not moving faster to prosecute Trump critics including Bolton and former FBI Director James Comey, and represents an escalation in Trump’s efforts to use the power of the Justice Department to seek retribution.
Prosecutors in the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office, which is leading the Bolton probe, and attorneys from the department’s National Security Division are pushing back against pressure from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, said the people, granted anonymity to discuss internal department dynamics.
The prosecutors have been asked to try to present the case to a grand jury as soon as next week, one of the people said.
LOOKING FOR ESPIONAGE ACT VIOLATIONS
The FBI searched Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington office in August seeking evidence of possible violations of the Espionage Act, according to a partially unsealed search warrant filed in federal court.
Agents found records in Bolton’s office labeled “confidential,” including documents that referenced weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the United Nations and other materials related to the U.S. government’s strategic communications, unsealed court records show.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Bolton spokeswoman also declined comment, referring Reuters to a Wednesday statement by Bolton’s attorney Abbe Lowell saying Bolton had done nothing wrong.
“These are the kinds of ordinary records, many of which are 20 years old or more, that would be kept by a 40-year career official who served at the State Department, as an Assistant Attorney General, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and the National Security Advisor,” Lowell said.
“Specifically, the documents with dated classification markings from the period 1998 – 2006 date back to Amb. Bolton’s time in the George W. Bush Administration.”
The Justice Department during Trump’s first term sued Bolton and started a criminal investigation into him over allegations his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” contained classified information. The book painted a scathing picture of Trump’s first administration.
A judge rejected the administration’s bid to block publication of the book in 2020. Both the criminal investigation and lawsuit were dropped in 2021 during the Biden administration.
Bolton denied the allegations and accused White House officials of acting improperly to block a critical account.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)
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