Former Trump NSA John Bolton to plead guilty over retaining classified documents: Report
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Former Trump NSA John Bolton to plead guilty over retaining classified documents: Report")
Former national security adviser John Bolton will agree to pay a $2.25 million fine, said reports. Photograph: (AFP)
John Bolton, who served as NSA from 2018 to 2019, was originally charged with eight counts of transmitting national defence information and 10 counts of retaining national defence information. After leaving the administration, Bolton published a 2020 memoir that was critical of the president.
US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, John Bolton, who later turned into one of his most prominent critics, is planning to plead guilty to one count of retaining classified national security information and will agree to pay a $2.25 million fine, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Bolton was indicted last year on 18 counts related to his handling of sensitive government information that prosecutors said he shared with two relatives in “diary-like” entries across a seven-year span for possible use in a book he was writing. He had pleaded not guilty in October.
Bolton is expected to submit the plea agreement at a hearing at the US District Court in Maryland on June 26. The docket in his case describes the proceeding as a “re-arraignment”.
According to federal sentencing guidelines, a conviction on the charge carries a potential prison sentence ranging from zero to 60 months. Court records show a hearing has been scheduled for June 26.
The plea agreement marks a significant development in a case that was brought against Bolton earlier this year in Maryland. Prosecutors accused him of improperly retaining classified material, including diary entries documenting his time in the first Trump administration.
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Bolton, who served as NSA from 2018 to 2019, was originally charged with eight counts of transmitting national defence information and 10 counts of retaining national defence information. Prosecutors alleged that he shared more than 1,000 pages detailing his day-to-day activities in the White House through his personal email account with two unauthorised individuals, reported to be his wife and daughter. However, those alleged transmissions are not part of the charge to which Bolton is expected to plead guilty.
Upon leaving the administration, Bolton published a 2020 memoir that was sharply critical of the president after which Trump repeatedly argued that Bolton should face criminal consequences, claiming the book contained classified information.
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Investigations into the memoir began during Trump’s first term, when the Justice Department opened both criminal and civil inquiries in 2020, but were closed within a year.
The matter resurfaced during the Biden administration after suspected Iranian hackers breached Bolton’s email account. During that investigation, FBI agents reportedly discovered diary-style entries containing highly classified information from his tenure as national security adviser, leading to a renewed inquiry and, ultimately, criminal charges.
Bolton, a Republican, has held a variety of senior positions within the US government across four decades.
The Justice Department alleged in court papers that Bolton’s “diary-like” notes were typed transcriptions of handwritten notes that were then sent to his two relatives through a commercial, non-governmental messaging app. Prosecutors said Bolton used personal email accounts, like those from AOL and Google, to email classified information to the family members.
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Prosecutors said Bolton’s notes contained “detailed information” that he learned from meetings with high-ranking government officials, intelligence briefings and discussions with foreign leaders and foreign intelligence and military organisations.
Bolton was also accused of printing out and storing the notes at his house and keeping digital copies on personal devices. The FBI searched Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington, D.C., office last August and seized electronic files, according to court documents.
