John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of mishandling classified information in a case stemming from his work on a book about his time in the first Trump administration that heavily criticized the president.
Appearing in federal court in Maryland, Bolton admitted to retaining sensitive government information in the form of written notes during and after his time as one of Trump’s top advisers. Prosecutors said he shared the information with two relatives who were not authorized to receive it.
Asked by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang if he was guilty of the charge of retention of national defense information, Bolton responded, “I am, your honor, and I’m sorry for it.”
Bolton could face five years in prison and three years of supervised release under the plea agreement. The judge will determine his sentence at a hearing scheduled for late October.
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Bolton also agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine, with half due within five days of sentencing and the remainder due within three months.
The deal also includes a provision requiring Bolton to debrief members of the intelligence community and Justice Department on conduct related to the offense. Bolton further agreed to provide the government up to 100 hours of community service to help officials address issues related “to the improper disclosure, handling, and retention of classified information by public officials.”
The plea is a key victory for Trump, who, since returning to office, has used the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute several of his political foes and critics.
Most of those cases have sputtered. Just this week, a federal judge tossed subpoenas against Gov. Tim Walz and other Minnesota Democrats in a Justice Department probe of state officials who opposed Trump’s immigration crackdown. In April, prosecutors reindicted former FBI Director James Comey over what prosecutors allege was an anti-Trump Instagram post after a judge tossed the government’s first indictment.
Bolton’s plea covers only a fraction of the original indictment in his case, which included eight counts of transmitting and 10 counts of retaining national defense information. The 77-year-old could have faced a maximum prison sentence of 10 years on each of those charges.
Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador, had taken responsibility for his “mistake.” Lowell also criticized Trump, who was charged with mishandling classified documents after his first term as president in a case that a federal judge later threw out on procedural and constitutional grounds. Trump had pleaded not guilty to hoarding sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
“Today, Ambassador Bolton did what real leaders do,” he said. “Ambassador Bolton, whose offense was only keeping a diary which contained classified information, kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve himself.”
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the case.
Bolton had initially pleaded not guilty in the case, which centered on what prosecutors called “diary-like” entries he kept from the first Trump administration in his home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The indictment accused Bolton of using a private messaging app and email to share with two family members more than 1,000 pages of information, some of it top secret, about his day-to-day activities as national security adviser.
In court Friday, federal prosecutor Tanner Kroeger noted that Bolton’s security clearance gave him access to some of the government’s most closely guarded secrets. He read through a timeline of the allegations, saying Bolton had kept classified documents in printed and digital form for years until the FBI searched his home and office in August.
Kroeger said Bolton received more than $1.5 million for writing and publishing his book, “The Room Where It Happened.” He added that none of the classified information covered in the indictment was published in the book.
The judge asked if Bolton agreed with the government’s recap. “The summary I’ve just heard is accurate,” Bolton said.
Speaking with reporters after the hearing, U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes said Bolton had put national security at “grave risk” through his actions.
“Mr. Bolton knew how to handle classified information, where it should be stored, how it should be stored, and with whom he could share that information,” she said. “He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information.”
This story was updated with additional reporting.
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