Trump asks judge to keep blocking release of final report on classified documents probe
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House on November 21, 2025, in Washington, DC. Trump congratulated Mamdani on his election win as the two political opponents met to discuss policies for New York City, including affordability, public safety, and immigration enforcement. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is urging the federal judge who dismissed his criminal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents to continue blocking the public release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigation, according to a court filing Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed Trump’s indictment on the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention on the grounds that Smith’s appointment as a special counsel was unlawful, had previously granted a last-ditch request from from lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants to block the Biden Justice Department from making public the volume of Smith’s report that detailed Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Two separate watchdog groups had filed legal challenges requesting that Cannon lift her order, and last month an appeals court panel urged Cannon to issue some kind of ruling on the requests after months of silence.
In Tuesday’s filing, an attorney representing Trump in his private capacity urged Judge Cannon to extend her order delaying the Smith report’s release, arguing it would “perpetuate Jack Smith’s unlawful criminal investigations and proceedings.”
It’s not immediately clear when Cannon might issue her ruling on the requests, though the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave her a 60-day deadline on Nov. 3 to issue her response to the requests from American Oversight and Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute.
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the Biden Justice Department’s efforts to get the documents back.
Top political appointees at the Justice Department, including Trump’s former defense attorney-turned-deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, have previously said they would oppose making that volume of Smith’s final report public.
John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Trump, arrives home as the FBI searches his house August 22, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. The FBI conducted a court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on charges that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained classified documents.
The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, charges Bolton with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information as well as 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
Prosecutors accuse Bolton of using a non-government personal email account and messaging application to transmit at least eight documents to unauthorized individuals that contained information classified at levels ranging from Secret to Top Secret.
Seven of the transmissions allegedly occurred during the time when Bolton was serving at Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019, while another document was allegedly sent by Bolton just days after President Donald Trump removed him from the administration in September of 2019.
“For four decades, I have devoted my life to America’s foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals,” Bolton said in a lengthy statement, saying the indictment is part of a pattern of “Donald Trump’s retribution” against him since leaving Trump’s first administration and publishing a tell-all book.
“I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said in the statement.
The move to indict Bolton comes on the heels of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James as President Donald Trump continues what critics call a campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes.
Federal agents in August searched Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office, related to allegations that Bolton possessed classified information.
Prosecutors say one document listed in the indictment “reveals intelligence about future attack by adversarial group in another country.” Others allegedly contain information about foreign partners sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; intelligence related to a foreign adversary’s missile launch plans; intelligence on leaders of a U.S. adversary; and one that detailed plans of covert action by the U.S. government.
The indictment accuses Bolton of abusing his position as national security adviser by sharing “more than a thousand pages” of information in “diary-like entries” about his day-to-day activities with two recipients identified only as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2,” who prosecutors say are Bolton’s relatives.
Sources told ABC News that the relatives referred to in the indictment as ‘Individual 1’ and ‘Individual 2’ are Bolton’s wife and daughter.
Bolton’s wife was present at their home the day the search was executed nearly two months ago.
It was not immediately clear which is believed to be Individual 1 or 2.
Prosecutors further allege that Bolton unlawfully retained documents, writing and notes containing national defense information ranging to levels of Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information at his home in Maryland, stored both as paper files and on a number of personal devices.
The indictment says that at some point after Bolton left office as national security adviser, a cyber actor believed to be associated with Iran hacked his personal email account and gained access to the classified information he had previously emailed to his relatives.
What Bolton and his attorneys say
Bolton has denied ever unlawfully removing classified materials from his time in government and has said no such information was published in his 2020 memoir “The Room Where It Happened.”
In his statement on Thursday, Bolton said his book was “reviewed and approved by the appropriate, experienced career clearance officials.”
Regarding the 2021 email hack, Bolton said the FBI “was made fully aware.”
“These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,” Bolton said in the statement, referring to Trump. “Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom.”
Bolton’s attorneys have denied he ever mishandled classified information and said documents investigators found in their search of his home and residence were no longer considered classified.
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “These charges stem from portions of Amb. 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. We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a DOJ statement announcing the indictment. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
The 10 documents the indictment says were unlawfully retained by Bolton were allegedly seized during the searches of his home and office in August, and contained similar information to the documents Bolton is alleged to have unlawfully transmitted during his time as national security adviser.
The investigation is being run out of the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, unlike the Comey and James probes which are being conducted by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, who sources say brought the Comey and James charges against the advice of career prosecutors.
Comey, who was indicted on charges of lying to Congress, and James, who is charged with mortgage fraud, have both denied wrongdoing.
Last month, a federal judge unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit that had been assembled by prosecutors in order to execute their court-authorized search of Bolton’s home. Most of the document concerned allegations surrounding the publication of Bolton’s book, which the first Trump administration unsuccessfully sued to block.
The federal judge overseeing that lawsuit expressed grave concerns over whether Bolton had included highly classified information in his book that could potentially compromise national security.
On the day that Bolton’s home and office were searched, Trump said that he was “unaware” of the searches but went on to call Bolton a “sleazebag.” Referencing the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago home in his own classified documents case, Trump told reporters that having your home searched is “not a good feeling.”
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
After Trump was reelected president last November, the case was dropped due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump, asked about Bolton in a June 2022 Oval Office interview with Fox News, said, “He took classified information and he published it, during a presidency. It’s one thing to write a book after. During. And I believe that he’s a criminal, and I believe, frankly, he should go to jail for that, and that probably, possibly will happen. That’s what should happen.”
(WASHINGTON) — The suspect accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, made his initial appearance in court Friday.
Brian Cole Jr. of Virginia was arrested by federal authorities Thursday following a massive probe that had stymied investigators for almost five years.
Members of his family seated in the gallery audibly gasped and broke down in tears as Cole entered the courtroom and sat down next to his attorney, John Shoreman.
Cole’s legs and arms were shaking throughout the duration of the hearing as he listened to the judge read him his rights and detail the two charges Cole currently faces, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years if he is convicted.
Cole did not enter a plea in court.
During the hearing, government attorneys said that Cole sat for an interview with the FBI for four hours Thursday after his arrest, and that they plan to provide a transcript of the interview to Cole’s attorneys over the weekend.
Law enforcement sources tell ABC News that Cole admitted to investigators that he planted the bombs, but investigators have not yet officially identified a motive.
According to sources, investigators who interviewed Cole feel initial indications are that Cole believed there was fraud in the 2020 election.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas on Friday that Cole told investigators he was “disappointed in various aspects of the election.”
Counsel for the government told the court that they will seek Cole’s continued detention through trial, based on the seriousness of the offenses he now faces. The judge set a detention hearing for Dec. 15.
As Cole departed the courtroom members of his family stood up and shouted, “We love you Brian!” Another shouted, “We’re here for you, baby!”
Family members and Cole’s attorney declined to comment to reporters outside of court after the hearing concluded.
Luigi Mangione (C), accused killer of US insurance CEO Brian Thompson, arrives for a hearing in New York City on February 21, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A judge dismissed two murder charges related to acts of terrorism as Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, made his first Manhattan courtroom appearance in five months on Tuesday.
Judge Gregory Carro tossed out the most severe charge, first-degree murder, accusing Mangione of murder as a crime of terrorism.
The judge said the evidence presented to the grand jury was insufficient to support the terrorism charge.
Carro also tossed a second-degree murder charge, related to killing as an act of terrorism.
The rest of the indictment remains, with the judge refusing to dismiss another second-degree murder charge, to which the accused killer has pleaded not guilty.
Mangione will be tried in state court on a charge of intentional murder in connection with Thompson’s murder.
Mangione returned to a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday for the first time in five months, hoping the judge will either dismiss state murder and terrorism charges or suppress evidence seized during his arrest.
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing CEO Brian Thompson with a 9 mm handgun equipped with a silencer on a Midtown Manhattan street on Dec. 4, 2024.
After a several-day manhunt, Mangione was captured in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
When police found Mangione at a McDonald’s in Altoona, he was carrying a backpack that investigators said contained the alleged murder weapon, a fake ID and a red notebook he used as a diary.
“I finally feel confident about what I will do,” one entry said, according to authorities. “The target is insurance. It checks every box.”The defense argued police lacked a warrant, making the search of the backpack illegal.
A federal grand jury charged Mangione in April with two counts of stalking, firearms offense and murder through the use of a firearm, a charge that makes him eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.
He also faces state charges in New York in connection with the shooting.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York and Pennsylvania as well as the federal charges. The simultaneous prosecutions put him in what his attorneys have called an “untenable situation” and they’ve asked Judge Gregory Carro to dismiss the state case, or at least put it on hold.
Prosecutors are hoping the judge will set a date for trial.Mangione is also being ordered to appear in a Pennsylvania courtroom regarding those state charges. While he is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the Blair County District Attorney’s Office in Pennsylvania wants the accused killer to appear in court for a pretrial motion hearing scheduled for Nov. 7.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione has pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery, possession of an instrument of a crime and giving a false ID to an officer.
