An FBI agent who accused the bureau of political bias throughout President Donald Trump’s first administration was arrested Monday in New York on expenses associated to the alleged unauthorized disclosure of confidential data, in response to courtroom paperwork filed Tuesday.
Johnathan Buma, a 15-year veteran of the bureau, allegedly shared textual content messages, inside paperwork and different categorized data with associates, together with as a part of a potential e-book he started writing about his profession as an FBI agent.
Starting in Oct. 2023, Buma “printed roughly 130 recordsdata from the FBI’s inside community … a few of which had been clearly marked with warnings that made clear that the data was to be protected,” in response to charging paperwork.
“Buma additionally printed 9 text-file paperwork which contained textual content that had been copied and pasted from studies that had been marked in such a means that made clear that the data have to be protected,” the charging paperwork mentioned..
Within the ensuing weeks, Buma allegedly shared a draft of a e-book he had written about his profession on the FBI with “associates” over e mail. The draft allegedly included particulars about “the FBI’s investigations right into a international nation’s weapons of mass destruction (‘WMDs’) program,” the charging doc alleges.
Whereas the investigation into Buma seems to have begun through the Biden administration — with a number of information retailers reporting on an FBI raid on his residence in late 2023 — Buma has been a vocal critic of how the primary Trump administration dealt with categorized data that Trump’s former private legal professional, Rudy Giuliani, was the goal of a Russian affect operation.
The FBI Headquarters is seen on Feb. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Photographs
Federal brokers arrested Buma on Monday as he was about to board an outbound worldwide flight, the paperwork present. He appeared in Brooklyn federal courtroom for a preliminary listening to on Tuesday and was launched from detention.
He has not entered a plea and his legal professional didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.
The fees had been filed within the Central District of California.
Buma’s former legal professional denied any wrongdoing when the raid on Buma’s residence was reported in late 2023.
