FOIA Requests Presaged Trouble for Trump Nemesis Bolton
By John A. Jenkins, Law St. Media, Oct. 29, 2025
When the Justice Department unsealed its indictment of John R. Bolton two weeks ago, it wasn’t the first time his name had surfaced in government files.
Long before prosecutors accused the former national security adviser and Donald Trump nemesis of mishandling classified information, Bolton had already become the subject of a flurry of Freedom of Information Act requests — filings that hinted at the controversies still shadowing him years after he left the White House.
Unnamed requesters as well as the corporate intermediary Cogency Global sought records about Bolton’s behind-the-scenes diplomacy and dealings: his contacts with Attorney General William Barr, his efforts to block a Chinese takeover of a Ukrainian aerospace firm, even the government’s internal emails about a Justice Department tweet disparaging Bolton in 2020.
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