Oct. 17 (UPI) -- John Bolton, the former national security adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Friday after he turned himself in to federal authorities on charges he illegally held and shared national security information.
Bolton, 76, entered the Greenbelt, Md., federal courthouse with his legal team around 8:30 a.m. EDT. His initial court hearing was slated for later in the day. He proclaimed his innocence in front of federal Judge Timothy Sullivan.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton on 18 felony counts of holding or sharing "diary-like" documents that he wrote while Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019 during his first term.
Bolton is now the third Trump foe targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after the FBI raided Bolton's home in August.
He said in a statement following the charges that he was the "latest target" of the president's long-mentioned retribution campaign on perceived political enemies, despite Trump's scant evidence and difficulty nailing down grand jury indictments.
Bolton added Thursday that his life's work dedicated to U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives would "never compromise those goals."
Bolton's attorney, meanwhile, argued that his client keeping diaries was "not a crime."
"These charges stem from portions of Ambassador Bolton's personal diaries over his 45-year career -- records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021," according to Washington attorney Abbie Lowell, who was lead trial counsel to Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. President Joe Biden.