SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 6.4.2026
The blogger is no fan of John Bolton.
It’s a scary notion that a well respected government official can be persecuted for exercising his right to free speech.
The arch conservative when it comes to American hegemony. I have seen him appear on The News Hour, Deutsche Welle and the BBC. I have read his writings in Foreign Affairs magazine and The Wall Street Journal.
I certainly disagree with John Bolton on his Hawkish views regarding American hegemony. But nobody can question his integrity, sincerity or convictions.
Bolton is being unfairly persecuted by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. The convicted felon President doesn’t like what he wrote in his book, ‘The Room Where It Happened’ The Room Where It Happened – Wikipedia after leaving the White House during his first term.
The entire Editorial in the Wall Street Journal can be found by accessing the following link.
President Trump may hate being the target of lawfare, but he sure knows how to wield it against anyone who crosses him.
That’s the story of John Bolton, his former national security adviser, who is agreeing to a plea deal essentially for the sin of writing a critical book about his time advising Mr. Trump.
The President has been determined to seek revenge against Mr. Bolton, who wrote his well-regarded memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” based on his 17 months running the National Security Council in Mr. Trump’s first term.
Mr. Trump first tried and failed to block publication, then went to court to confiscate the royalties. He lost that fight too. But on Mr. Trump’s return to office, his Justice Department charged Mr. Bolton with a coercive 18-count indictment for keeping diary notes on a home computer that included “national defense information.”
Mr. Bolton has now decided to plead guilty to a single felony count for retaining classified information. He will pay a $2.5 million fine, which is best understood as an attempt to deny Mr. Bolton the earnings from the book.
Like most similar defendants, Mr. Bolton had little choice.
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