Ex-Trump advisor John Bolton agrees to plead guilty to retaining classified information: MS NOW
When he was indicted, John Bolton said he was innocent and that he was being targeted because of his public opposition to President Trump.
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Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton leaves federal court after pleading not guilty to charges of mishandling classified material on Oct. 17, 2025 in Greenbelt, Maryland. Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
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John Bolton, who previously served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump, has agreed to plead guilty to retaining classified information in a private diary, MS NOW reported Thursday.
Bolton, who is a strong critic of Trump, faces a sentence of up to 60 months in prison and a fine of $2.25 million as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors on the single count, according to MS NOW.
The only people who were exposed to the secret information were his wife and daughter, according to a source cited by the outlet.
Bolton is one of three prominent Trump foes who were indicted in federal court during the president's second, non-consecutive term in the White House.
The other two are former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom argued that they were targeted because of Trump's animus toward them.
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Bolton was indicted in October by a federal grand jury in Maryland on eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information. FBI agents had raided Bolton's home in Bethesda, Md., and his office in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 22 as part of the probe.
Bolton, who served as Trump's national security advisor from April 2018 through September 2019, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., on June 26.
He is expected to enter his guilty plea in the case on that day.
When he was indicted, Bolton said he was innocent and that he was being targeted because of his public opposition to Trump.
The indictment against him says that from 2018 until August 2025, Bolton shared "more than a thousand pages of his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor — including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI [sensitive compartmented information] level — with two unauthorized individuals" who were relatives of his.
Neither of those two people, who were identified by MS NOW as Bolton's wife and daughter, had security clearances, the indictment says.
Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of making a false statement and obstruction in connection with nearly five-year-old testimony to the Senate.
Two weeks after that, James was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia federal court on charges of bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution in connection with a mortgage she had obtained to buy a three-bedroom home in that state.
On Nov. 24, a judge dismissed both cases against Comey and James, ruling that the interim U.S. Attorney handpicked by Trump to oversee the office prosecuting them was invalidly appointed.
Comey was indicted a second time, on April 28, in North Carolina federal court for allegedly threatening Trump's life when he posted an Instagram image of seashells spelling out "8647."
"Eighty-six" is used by restaurant staff to refer to a discontinued menu item. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.
Comey's lawyers have said they plan on filing multiple motions to dismiss the indictment.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the maximum length of a possible prison sentence for John Bolton if he pleads guilty under a new agreement with federal prosecutors.
