Kristy Greenberg: Bolton Told the FBI That He Got Hacked but Did Not Say He Was Transmitting Nat’l Defense Information

Wallace: “Can you explain the Iran piece to me and what is in the indictment makes it clear that they learned through surfacing the news or the fact of the hack from Iran. But Bolton’s defense seems to be, hey, I told you about this and the blast. I mean, what — how do you understand the Iran piece?”

Greenberg: “Yeah. So, even before — a month before Bolton says I got hacked by Iran, I’m letting you, FBI, know about that, a month before that, it’s important to know, there was a settlement in connection with his book. And he settles with the Department of Justice because they’re saying you didn’t go through the proper publication process. There is a process to clear what you put in the book. You blew past that and didn’t want to deal with that. And the judge in that case said that was wrong. You gambled with national security. You subjected yourself to civil and criminal liability. There was a judge in 2020 saying that, and there was a settlement where John Bolton said, okay, I’m going to give you back everything I have, electronic, hard copy, I’m going to give you back everything. And then after that settlement, a month later, according to the indictment, he gets hacked, notifies the FBI of it. But what he doesn’t, according to the indictment, tell the FBI, is I got hacked and I was transmitting this national defense information to two people who didn’t have security clearance. So what Iran could have gotten was this sensitive information. That part, according to the government, he left out. And that is significant that that matters. So, I mean, he said, well, I just went ahead and deleted things. But in 2025, the government executes a search warrant and they find not only electronic files, but they find hard copy files of these same materials that he was supposed to turn back, according to the settlement, to the government, and according to them, did not.”

Wallace: “Sarah, let me come back to you.”