The “Opponent of the President” narrative machine fired up once again, as news broke of the 18-count indictment handed down against former National Security Adviser John Bolton. The legacies lost their collective minds as they rehashed familiar tropes about weaponization and retribution, for purposes of trying to absolve Bolton in the court of public opinion.
Here’s how the story was framed on ABC World News Tonight:
DAVID MUIR: Good evening. We begin tonight here with the breaking news. For the third time in three weeks, another one of President Trump's most outspoken critics now indicted by a federal grand jury. This time, Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton. The Justice Department tonight accusing Bolton of mishandling classified documents. Bolton, who played a major role in the first Trump administration, once writing after witnessing the president up close, that he was, quote, “not fit for office.” Tonight Bolton is indicted. The FBI searching his home in Maryland in August. Bolton denying he illegally removed classified materials. The president attacking Bolton since he left the first administration, revoking his security clearance and Secret Service protection. Tonight’s newest indictment comes after former FBI director James Comey was indicted and just days ago New York attorney general Letitia James indicted, too. ABC's Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas leading us off tonight.
PIERRE THOMAS: Tonight for the third time in three weeks the Justice Department pursuing criminal charges against one of President Trump's political enemies. First it was former FBI Director James Comey. Then New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Now the president's former national security advisor turned outspoken critic John Bolton. Tonight Bolton indicted by a federal grand jury on 18 felony counts for alleged illegal transmission and retention of classified documents.
David Muir’s excessively long introduction serves as a brief exemplar for what the coverage looked like across the dial. There is the obligatory dicta implying this indictment being another in a long sequence of indictments of Trump foes, with some manner of “three in three weeks" language. These talking points showed up pretty uniformly across the dial.
NBC and ABC both reported that the indictment was on 18 counts. Likewise, they both reported that Bolton was hacked by a foreign actor with ties to Iran.
This information did not air on CBS Evening News, a major omission. NBC Nightly News were the only legacy newscast to report that the investigation initiated under the Biden administration. This is a crucial data piece because it debunks the whole “retribution” narrative that the media are trying to establish.
In sum, coverage was spotty and inconsistent, with the only uniform items making into the report being those that fueled The Narrative. As is all too often the case.
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective newscasts on Thursday, October 16th, 2025:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
10/16/25
6:32 PM
DAVID MUIR: Good evening. We begin tonight here with the breaking news. For the third time in three weeks, another one of President Trump's most outspoken critics now indicted by a federal grand jury. This time, Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton. The Justice Department tonight accusing Bolton of mishandling classified documents. Bolton, who played a major role in the first Trump administration, once writing after witnessing the president up close, that he was, quote, “not fit for office.” Tonight Bolton is indicted. The FBI searching his home in Maryland in August. Bolton denying he illegally removed classified materials. The president attacking Bolton since he left the first administration, revoking his security clearance and Secret Service protection. Tonight’s newest indictment comes after former FBI director James Comey was indicted and just days ago New York attorney general Letitia James indicted, too. ABC's Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas leading us off tonight.
PIERRE THOMAS: Tonight for the third time in three weeks the Justice Department pursuing criminal charges against one of President Trump's political enemies. First it was former FBI Director James Comey. Then New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Now the president's former national security advisor turned outspoken critic John Bolton. Tonight Bolton indicted by a federal grand jury on 18 felony counts for alleged illegal transmission and retention of classified documents.
DONALD TRUMP: I think he's a bad person. I think he is a bad guy, yeah, he is a bad guy. Too bad, but it's the way it goes. That's the way it goes, right?
THOMAS: The president has been railing against Bolton for years since he published a book about his time in the administration, "The Room Where It Happened."
TRUMP: He took classified information and published it during a presidency. One thing to write a book after. During. And I believe that he is a criminal and I believe frankly he should go to jail for that.
THOMAS: In August, federal agents searched Bolton's home in Maryland. An office in Washington. The president insisted he knew nothing about it.
TRUMP: I purposely don't want to really get involved in it. I am not a fan of John Bolton. I thought he was a sleazebag, actually.
THOMAS: Bolton tonight indicted for allegedly emailing more than a thousand pages of information about his activities as national security advisor with two members of his family in the form of diary-like entries. Prosecutors say after Bolton left office, a cyber actor believed to be associated with Iran hacked his personal email and obtained that information. Prosecutors also say documents found in Bolton's home range from sensitive to top secret and include details about a future attack by an adversarial group in another country, and details about a foreign adversary's missile launch plans as well as plans of a covert action by the U.S. Government. But Bolton’s attorneys say the documents were no longer considered classified and Bolton himself has long denied any wrongdoing.
MARTHA RADDATZ: Do you fear at all you could be prosecuted?
JOHN BOLTON: Look, under Donald Trump, no regular rules here apply. But I am confident that there is no national security information, no classified information in the book. I didn't intend to write anything that revealed classified information.
THOMAS: David, this investigation began in the Biden administration. Tonight Bolton's attorney Abbe Lowell releasing a statement saying Bolton did not retain or share classified information but he, quote, “kept diaries emphasizing this is not a crime” David, if convicted on these charges, he faces potentially decades in prison. David.
MUIR: Pierre Thomas leading us off here tonight, Pierre, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS
10/16/25
6:31 PM
MAURICE DuBOIS: For the first time in four weeks, the Justice Department has secured a criminal indictment against a political opponent of President Trump.
JOHN DICKERSON: A federal grand jury in Maryland today indicted the president's first-term national security advisor, John Bolton, for allegedly storing and transmitting classified information.
DuBOIS: Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane is in Washington with the details and Scott, this case is different from the others.
SCOTT MacFARLANE: This one allegedly includes top secret defense information. John Bolton tonight and his defense lawyer both say no crime was committed and they look forward to proving that. But in the meantime, he’s a criminal defendant facing the prospect of prison time.
Two months after federal agents searched John Bolton's home in Maryland and his office in Washington, a grand jury has indicted Bolton on eighteen counts, including transmission of national defense information and unlawful retention of national defense information. The charging documents allege the former national security adviser shared more than 1,000 pages of highly sensitive information about his day-to-day activities in The White House, including classified national defense information. Some of it top secret, and some of which he emailed in diary-like entries to relatives between April 2018 and September 2019. President Trump responded to Bolton's indictment this afternoon.
DONALD TRUMP: I didn’t know that. You are telling me for the first time, but I think he is a bad person. I think he is a bad guy, yeah. He is a bad guy. It's too bad. But it's the way it goes.
MacFARLANE: Bolton was a top Trump adviser in the president's first term. But he departed after 17 months over fierce disagreements over foreign policy.
JOHN BOLTON: He’s just not receptive to new facts, the intelligence briefings don’t communicate as much information as they should.
MacFARLANE: The two men have clashed frequently since then. Bolton wrote a book about the Trump White House which described the president as an erratic and stunningly uninformed leader. Bolton is the third Trump rival to face criminal charges in recent weeks. Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were also charged in Virginia. All three deny wrongdoing.
TOM DUPREE: This indictment is definitely much more substantial than the indictments we saw against Jim Comey and Tish James. It paints a picture allegedly of a defendant who was careless with classified information, with information concerning the national defense.
MacFARLANE: The court is expected to schedule an arraignment in this matter in the coming days, which means John Bolton will face a judge at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. He’ll likely have his fingerprints taken, have a booking photo taken and a judge has been assigned, John and Maurice, a 2013 appointee of then-President Obama.
DuBOIS: Okay. Scott MacFarlane in D.C., thanks so much.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
10/16/25
6:32 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Good evening. We are coming on with more breaking news. Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton, who became a fierce critic of the president, has just been indicted. He is accused of mishandling classified information. Prosecutors allege Bolton transcribed notes into Word documents and sent top secret information through his AOL email account and shared 1,000 pages of information with his family. The FBI swarmed Bolton's home and office this summer as part of that investigation. President Trump today calling Bolton, quote, a bad person. Bolton late tonight saying, “I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department”. Bolton is now the third Trump critic to be indicted by the Justice Department in recent weeks. Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James are also facing federal charges. And President Trump has called for more people to be indicted. We start tonight with Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett.
LAURA JARRETT: He once served as the national security adviser to the president. But tonight, John Bolton facing 18 counts of mishandling national defense information, indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland. President Trump reacting tonight just as the indictment was made public.
DONALD TRUMP: I think he is a bad guy, yeah. He is a bad guy.
JARRETT: Bolton's feud with President Trump well documented. The former national security adviser publishing a scathing memoir in 2020, detailing his time in the first Trump White House. The meticulous notes he kept while working for Trump now at the center of tonight's indictment. Prosecutors alleging Bolton often took handwritten notes on a yellow pad, later transcribing them into Word documents and then secretly emailing two family members diary-like entries, including details about future attacks and foreign adversaries spanning over 1,000 pages. Prosecutors adding that years after he left office, someone believed to be associated with Iran hacked Bolton's personal email account and gained unauthorized access to the classified information. Bolton's attorney tonight saying say he did not unlawfully hare or store any information. Adding, Bolton kept diaries, that's not a crime. For years now, Bolton and trump have traded barbs with the president criticizing.
TRUMP: Classified information. That's illegal. And you go to jail for that.
JARRETT: Bolton has maintained the book he published contained no classified material. And a lengthy FBI probe, ultimately ending with no charges. But this summer the FBI conducted searches of Bolton’s home and office. Officials seen with boxes in hand. Also seizing his phones and computers.
JOHN BOLTON: He has come after me and several others in withdrawing protection that we had. I think it's a retribution presidency.
LLAMAS: All right. Laura joins us now live on set. Laura, we said earlier that John Bolton released a statement. And he is’ really going after President Trump.
JARRETT: Yes, Tom. It is lengthy. He is saying that he’s just become latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department, even making a comparison to Josef Stalin here. He goes on to say, quote: these charges not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents. He says he’s going to fight these charges, Tom.
LLAMAS: Allright, Laura Jarrett on that breaking news. Laura, great to have you.
