An FBI agent who criticized the bureau during President Donald Trump’s first term was arrested Monday on a charge of sharing confidential FBI documents and messages to write a book about his time at the federal agency.
Johnathan Buma, a 15-year FBI veteran, was arrested as he was getting ready to board an international flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, an arrest affidavit stated.
Buma is accused of printing about 130 files of classified FBI documents and messages and later sharing the material with associates for a book he was writing about his career at the bureau.
“The book draft contained information that BUMA obtained through his position as an FBI Special Agent that relates to the FBI’s efforts and investigations into a foreign country’s weapons of mass destruction (‘WMD’) program,” according to the court document. “On November 2, 2023, BUMA wrote an email to various personal associates assisting him in negotiating a book deal with a publishing company.”
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FBI Special Agent Johnathan Buma speaks to Insider during an interview, during which he alleges there was a pro-Trump bias at the agency during the president’s first term. (Insider News/YouTube)
Buma also shared excerpts of the book that contained confidential information in posts on social media, the document alleges.
The court document stated that Buma had issues with the bureau for years.
The FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
In 2022, Buma began voicing his concerns about how the bureau handled certain investigations to various government agencies, Congress and members of the news media, according to the document.
Buma told Insider during an interview in September 2023 that when he approached his superior about how former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was working for the Trump campaign, may have been compromised in a Russian counter-influence operation, he was shut down. Buma said when he had earlier told the superior about Hunter Biden’s alleged business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the superior was “very interested.”
Fox News Digital reached out to an attorney for Buma for comment.
The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building on June 9, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California told Fox News Digital that Buma was ordered released on $100,000 bond after being charged with one misdemeanor count of disclosure of confidential information.
