John Bolton proclaims 'complete vindication' after DOJ drops criminal probe over his book

Almost a year after the release of former National Security Adviser John Bolton's tell-all book, the Justice Department has ended a criminal investigation into whether he disclosed classified information.

The DOJ ended its investigation into Bolton's book critical of former President Donald Trump and also dropped a lawsuit that aimed to recoup the profits from it, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Reports that this investigation had been opened first emerged last September, about three months after Bolton published The Room Where It Happened. The Trump administration previously sought to block the book's release, an effort a judge denied while still saying that Bolton "likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Bolton in an interview with Axios Wednesday celebrated the DOJ's move to drop the investigation and lawsuit against him, saying, "This is a complete vindication. They're just giving up."

The Times described the decision to do so as a "clear rebuke" by Attorney General Merrick Garland of the tactics of former President Donald Trump's Justice Department. The Times also reports that the DOJ has spent recent weeks negotiating the terms of a settlement with Bolton after President Biden's transition advisers "concluded that the department had acted in a highly political manner."