Catherine Herridge:
ANALYSIS: @TheJusticeDept BOLTON SENTENCING MEMO RECOMMENDS PRISON
'A sentence of 60 months imprisonment, with a three-year term of supervised release, and the agreed-upon (2.25M) fine is sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to satisfy the goals of sentencing'
'Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States. He has exposed his country to harm..'
'Over the course of 17 months, Mr. Bolton systematically exposed this nation’s most sensitive of secrets to cyber theft...'
'Given his decades of experience with classified information, Mr. Bolton’s actions...demonstrate aggravated, willful conduct.'
'And unlike many cases involving violations of 18 U.S.C. § 793, this Court does need not to speculate whether harm to national security ultimately materialized..'
KEY ARGUMENT: "Mr. Bolton’s ongoing exposure of real-time classified national defense information, by transmission over unsecure, non-governmental communications jeopardized the most sensitive information held by the United States."
MY NOTES: @HillaryClinton's unsecured personal server used for State Dept. business also contained intelligence at the highest classification levels.
Then Director @comey argued in 2016 no reasonable prosecutor would bring the case because they lacked evidence of intent.
Critics disagreed and said Clinton's purchase of the server confirmed her intent to take records outside secure government systems for sensitive and classified information.
DOJ BOTTOM LINE: "Mr. Bolton’s sentence should send the message that senior federal officials like him are not above the law; they must follow the same rules, regulations, and laws as everyone else."
NOTE: Separate Post Analyzes Sentencing Memo From Bolton's Legal Team
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