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Bolton Leaves Maryland Courthouse After Pleading Not Guilty; No Trial Date Set: Next Court Appearance Set For Nov. 21; Soon: Zelenskyy Arrives At White House For Pivotal Trump Meeting; Sources: Trump Hasn't Ruled Out Sending Tomahawks To Ukraine; Axios: Greene Slams Part Of Trump Agenda As "America Last". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 17, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS CONTRIBUTOR: So, I think its good news. But I do think being a bit cynical that President Putin will try to use that, exploit that as well to curry favor with President Trump.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: All right, Jill Dougherty, Kurt Volker and Halyna Yanchenko, to all of you, thank you very, very much. And to all of our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media, @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncnn.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: And we'll see you back here Monday morning at 10 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, President Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton just pled not guilty to 18 charges of mishandling classified information. What happens now to the Trump insider turned political enemy.

Plus, we have brand new reporting on how President Trump is weighing pressure from Putin on the key decision of whether to send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. As President Zelenskyy heads to the White House this hour to make his case.

And we'll break down all the spite, the sparring and even some humor from the New York City mayoral debate. And how it could potentially move the needle in a race with big national implications.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with the breaking news. President Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton just left a federal courthouse in Maryland after pleading not guilty to 18 charges of mishandling classified information. Now Bolton says, he is being targeted for his criticism of President Trump.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is outside the courthouse. Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Dana, he was here at the federal courthouse in Maryland for four hours today, almost exactly 8 am to right now noon. But that hearing where he pleaded not guilty, his initial appearance in federal court, facing 18 counts of mishandling or transmitting classified information.

That hearing, it only lasted about 13, 15, 20 minutes, not long at all for Bolton to be here before a judge. They did get some business done in court today, though Dana, Bolton not only said that he's pleading not guilty to the judge, and we were told by our producers in the courtroom that he said it quite firmly when he was asked what his pleading was.

He also has agreed to give up his passport. He's going to have to get permission if he wants to travel outside of the country. As he awaits trial, he was released with no other bond conditions that would severely curtail his ability to move about the world and live here in the state of Maryland.

Also, we didn't get a trial date today. That's because Dana, he was before a magistrate judge. A trial date is very much more likely to be set by the district judge, Judge Ted Chuang. He's going to be hearing from Bolton in late November, just before Thanksgiving. That's the next time the former national security advisor to Donald Trump will be in court.

There's going to be some things that happen behind the scenes in the coming weeks, including the evidence that prosecutors have collected over years of investigation that will begin to be handed to the team of John Bolton as they prepare their defenses. Bolton didn't speak at all today, nor did his lawyers, Abbe Lowell, primarily his defense attorney. But they have released statements, and Lowell has indicated that he has a couple defenses he's thinking about right now.

In a statement yesterday, he said that he called Bolton's classified information that he's alleged to have kept wrongfully after he left the Trump White House personal diaries. Abbe Lowell also said that those are unclassified, shared only with immediate family and everything here that's been under investigation the FBI looked at years ago. Dana?

BASH: Katelyn, thank you so much for being there. You've been way ahead on the story, and we appreciate your reporting. Thanks. And I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters, including Jim Sciutto. You have been covering John Bolton for a very long time. I want to bring you in, but I just want to set the table by, once again, showing our viewers specifically what the allegations are against him.

As you heard from Katelyn that he wrote digital versions of personal diaries that included classified details, kept those on a personal AOL and a Gmail account, shared those digital diaries with his wife and daughter who were helping write his book, and they included allegedly top secret classified information. Now an informed FBI -- he informed FBI after his account, those accounts were hacked but didn't disclose classified content.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Listen, there are rules around handling classified materials, and quite severe rules. I had a top-secret security clearance when I worked in government, and for instance, with documents, you're not supposed to take them out of secure rooms, the SCIF. Or if you do, you keep them in a lock safe. You certainly don't want to carry them home, right, which is one reason why all those boxes in the basement of Mar-a-Lago were an issue for President Trump at the time.

[12:05:00]

The specifics of this case seem to relate to what he shared via email, right, less about the hard documents and who he shared them with and on unclassified servers, right? His personal AOL account, which sounds a lot like the case against Hillary Clinton, right?

If you remember before, there seems to be some dispute, at least from Bolton's lawyer as to whether that information was actually classified and that's going to be debated in court. We should also note the particular details of his case in that -- when he was writing this book, he submitted the material to a security review, right, which was required.

And during that review, which all former government officials have to do, particularly if you work in the intelligence agencies, some things were picked out during the review, and you can't include this, you can't include that. So, he submitted to that review and did not include what was considered sensitive information, at least in the book, that's not related to the emails.

We should also note that in terms of the hacking of his emails, right, he was also cooperating with the FBI investigation in that, right? And by the way, he was put under death threat by around as well. So, he had quite a personal interest in that investigation.

BASH: Right. And still is -- and I should, you know, just add what you were alluding to, that he is -- there are death threats against him, as we speak, from Iran, because when he was in the first Trump administration--

SCIUTTO: And his security detail has been removed by the president.

BASH: Yes. So, we have to pay for his own security detail, but that is partly how this came out because they hacked him.

SCIUTTO: Right. And to be fair, you know, when you look at these, again, we've had several -- my colleagues here know these cases as well are better than me, prosecutions against former folks on his enemies list, right? The extent of this one, the number of counts and at least the alleged evidence behind it appear to be deeper than the ones that we're looking at, for instance, with the Comey case.

BASH: Yeah. Which was the allegation there is that he lied under oath. We'll see what happens in court. The Wall Street Journal editorial board is not a bastion of liberalism, and here's what they said, quote. There's little doubt that the underlying motivation for this prosecution is retribution.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, it certainly follows a pattern of other recent cases we've seen. But to Jim's point, it is different. This was not an indictment that was handed up hastily. I mean, the investigation has been going on for quite some time. It's not in the Eastern District of Virginia, where we've been watching the James Comey and the Letitia James indictment.

This is in Maryland. That said, that does not mean that retribution is not at the center of this. I mean, just listen to the president's own words about this. I mean, he has been angry at John Bolton since even before John Bolton left the first Trump administration White House that they clashed during the administration, they certainly clashed over the book. The president was furious about that.

And what has John Bolton done since there? He's appeared on television a whole lot of times, probably thousands of times. That angers the president, and it's also complicates his defense here, because all of those, or many of the things he talked about on television, correlate to the notes that he was taking at the time.

So, what it kind of reminds me is, and we're old enough to remember this. Remember Senator Bob Graham from Florida, who kept detailed diaries of things. I didn't know that John Bolton--

BASH: There was a lot -- there was a lot of diaries--

(CROSSTALK)

ZELENY: For sure. He had detailed things to send to his wife and his daughter that complicated it. So, yes, it's under the retribution sort of umbrella, but it is different.

BASH: You mentioned John Bolton appearing on television. One of those appearances made its way into the indictment, and it goes back to January of 2017 something that Bolton said to Lou Dobbs of blessed memory about Hillary Clinton's indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Look, as I've said before, I believe it's still to this day. If I had done at the State Department what Hillary Clinton did, I'd be wearing an orange jumpsuit now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, listen, be careful what you wish for, because he may be. And listen, the Wall Street Journal obviously, thinks this is retribution. There is a difference here in terms of the other cases. Internally the Justice Department, the folks working on this case are supporting this case, and these aren't all Trump appointees. This is something that predates the second Trump term, at least, I think it began in something like 2022.

And so, it is different in that way. Is Trump very happy to see John Bolton in this situation? Of course, he is, because he has, for years, as you said, they have had an antagonistic relationship. He watches TV. He sees John Bolton on TV going after him. So, there is that, but this is slightly different from what we've seen.

[12:10:00]

BASH: All right. We're going to sneak in a quick break. Any moment, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be arriving at the White House for really important meeting. One of the many questions is, will President Trump give Ukraine Tomahawk missiles now that he has spoken to Vladimir Putin.

Plus, the Hollywood divide. Why are the same celebrities who have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for months, mostly silent, now that there're actually is a ceasefire. We're going to have new reporting from our own Elizabeth Wagmeister, ahead.

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[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Any minute, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive at the White House for his third Oval Office visit this year. Now, Zelenskyy is expected to push President Trump to let Ukraine buy American long range Tomahawk missiles, potentially game changing weapons that would allow Ukraine to fire deep into Russia. Here's what the president said on Monday about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They'd like to have Tomahawk. That's a step up. They'd like to have Tomahawk. We talked about that, and so, we'll see. I think I might speak to Russia about that in law fairness. I told that to President Zelenskyy, because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now he did speak to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, this time yesterday, a call that they say, would lead to an in person meeting soon. So, the question is, what does that mean for Zelenskyy push to get those Tomahawks. Right now, my panel is still here to discuss that.

Jeff Zeleny, these two men have had a very rocky relationship. I think it's more of like a roller coaster. But this moment is really critical, and I just wonder what it tells us that Zelenskyy slept at the Blair House last night, which is the house right across the street from the White House, which generally a head of state will stay there when they are visiting, but he hadn't the first two times.

ZELENY: It's extraordinary. It's one of those signs. I'm not sure if it carries the same weight of the Putin phone call yesterday, but it certainly is a sign of respect. And boy, that is a far cry from that moment, really extraordinary moment that we all still remember so well, in February, back when President Zelenskyy was effectively thrown out of the White House. And during that visit and a subsequent one, he was staying across from the White House at a private hotel. He was not staying at the Blair House. So, it is significant. However, the phone call from Putin and Trump yesterday. The timing of that is hardly an accident. I mean, it is the Russian president's attempt to, sort of, you know, set the framework for President Trump's mindset going into this.

So, I do not know what this meeting is going to be like. I think it is very much an open question what type of reception he will be. I do not believe -- I'm not sure if the vice president is going to be there. That was a wild card back in February. But look, going forward here, this is something President Trump, he still wants to end this conflict.

Obviously, there's been very little progress in that. And it's, you know, been months since that Alaska summit, which obviously benefited Putin far more. So, the idea of meeting in Budapest, Trump and Putin. I'm not sure what the point of that would be without Zelenskyy's involvement.

BASH: I want to just enlighten our viewers on some of the timeline here, and I want to get your take on it afterwards. First of all, a statement that came from Dmitry Peskov. This came today, claiming that they proposed the phone conversation that happened yesterday on the heels of President Trump's successful trip to the Mideast. Putin's first intention, of course, was to congratulate Trump on his success.

OK. Then just a reminder, this is what the president said yesterday after the phone call. I just concluded my telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. It was a very productive one. He went on to say, President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this inglorious war between Russia and Ukraine to an end.

And then the question about sanctions, the threat of sanctions against Russia. Listen to what the president said yesterday afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we'll make the right determination. I'm not against anything. I'm just saying, it may not be perfect timing. It could happen in a week or two, but it's at my option, as you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I'm sure Putin's phone call had nothing to do with the fact that Trump is meeting Zelenskyy today. It was purely a congratulatory, of course it is. You know, he wants -- he wants to get ahead of this because he's concerned about Tomahawk missiles, because Ukrainian strikes without Tomahawk missiles are already punishing his energy infrastructure.

But to your point, two things changed after that call. Putin said something that somehow pushed Donald Trump, which he's done in the past, right? Changes his mind somehow. One, he said, actually, I'm not sure I'm on board about Tomahawks. We may need those missiles. BASH: As you're talking, I just want to put up on the screen something we showed yesterday, which is an image that you just described how deep into Russia a Tomahawk missile could go if it's launched from Kyiv, and that--

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Yeah. Inside that red line, go ahead.

SCIUTTO: So, after the phone call, Trump says, actually, I'm not sure I'm on board with Tomahawks. And to your point, after the phone call, when you had this push prior that maybe the Senate was finally going to push the sanctions bill, which is by the way has broad bipartisan support across the finish line. Trump said, well, maybe now's not the time to do that.

[12:20:00]

So, Putin said something that gave Trump a sense that perhaps now is a time to talk, but it's interesting because the Alaska summit was a failure by Trump's own measure of what a success would be, because he walked into that summit saying, we need to get a ceasefire. He didn't get a ceasefire.

And Zach Cohen and I reported yesterday that following the summit, the Trump administration began sharing intelligence with Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia, which Ukraine has been taking advantage of, with great success hit these sites. They were not the Tomahawks yet, but the intel that allowed them to do so.

So, the Trump administration was acknowledging with that shift, that that summit didn't work out. So, how are we at the point today where they're going to meet again in a couple of weeks time in Budapest? If it happens -- who knows.

HENDERSON: Great. You know, yeah, I mean, we know that Trump likes the theater of it. You remember he rolled out the red carpet for Putin and seemed to sort of applaud him as he was coming his way. So, he'll certainly get that. What else he gets is unclear. You know, Trump likes to make promises. He likes to promise things in one or two weeks, and here we are, deep into his administration and into his promises around Ukraine and Russia, and nothing has happened.

We also know that he's chasing a Nobel Peace Prize, right? That he thinks that he puts enough points on the board around these different conflicts that somehow, a year from now, who actually get the Nobel Peace Prize. So, I think that's part of what he's doing as well.

BASH: All right, everybody standby, because coming up. Too focused on foreign policy, not enough on affordability. Who is the MAGA movement voice, accusing the Trump White House of turning its America first message into America last. We'll tell you after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: President Trump will sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy very soon at the White House. They are preparing for Zelenskyy's arrival. My panel is back now. All right, so Nia, you heard the tease about who in the MAGA movement is criticizing the president? Do you know who it is?

HENDERSON: Marjorie Taylor Greene.

BASH: Oh my gosh. You win the Friday prize. No, no, nothing. I'll come up with something. Here's the quote. It's a revolving door at the White House of foreign leaders when Americans are, you know, screaming from their lungs. So, her point is, well, first of all, the America first point. But also, I think even broader than that, is affordability, affordability, affordability, which we don't hear the White House talking about.

Having said that, I would argue that. And curious what you think that he's definitely focused on things in the United States, but it's like Chicago and ICE and things that he puts on, you know, on his to do list, the economy is a big one, but that's where his focus is.

HENDERSON: Yeah, that's right. And he ran on lowering prices. He ran essentially saying that Biden fell asleep at the wheel and Americans were paying too much for the price of eggs and groceries. And since he's been in office, there has been no decline. And there, in fact, there's been a bit of an increase in prices because of some of his economic policies.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been fascinating in this moment. She has been criticizing House leadership. She has, I think, up until now, been careful not to directly criticize the White House. But you see here, her criticizing the White House. The White House, for instance, wanted her to come off of the petition around the Epstein files, she has not done that.

So, she is really fascinating to watch. She has her ear to the ground in terms of what MAGA is talking about. There is upset around this president spending so much time and money on Argentina for instance.

SCIUTTO: I would just say, the Argentina one is the classic one, because it is a literal bailout for Argentina, 20 billion, but sounds like it might be 40 billion, actually as well. So, that one seems to--

BASH: While the government is shutdown.

SCIUTTO: While the government is shutdown here, and while folks are genuinely concerned about bailing themselves out, right? It's also, from a foreign policy perspective, quite instructive as to who gets help and who doesn't from this president, right?

Malay, a friend of Trump, gets this bailout at offer. Prior to the election, if the election turns out the way Trump wants, in Malay's favor, by the way, that's -- that was what Trump said. He said the money will come if the election goes the right way. Brazil doesn't do what President Trump wants. Prosecutes his friend Jair Bolsonaro offer attempting to overturn an election. They get 50 percent tariffs.

ZELENY: And at the heart of all this, not only is Marjorie Taylor Greene upset. Soybean farmers in the U.S. are so furious about the Argentina bailout because the soybean market has been closed because of the Trump trade war with China. So, it sounds sort of complicated, but very much woven together. So, there's discontent in Trump country about the soybean trade war and that bailout. She is on there something.

BASH: I love having our Nebraska farm boy here with us. All right. Coming up, free busses, rent freezes and the mob in the back of a yellow cab. We'll take you to New York City where the candidates for mayor are not pulling any punches.

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