John Bolton, former national security adviser under President Donald Trump, has reached a plea agreement in federal court on charges of mishandling classified documents. Under the agreement, which is subject to court approval, Bolton will plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security information.
As part of the plea deal, Bolton must pay a $2.25 million fine. The sentencing guidelines allow for anywhere between no prison time and five years, though final sentencing will be determined by the court. Bolton is scheduled to appear in court on June 26 to formally enter his guilty plea.
The Justice Department filed the criminal charges against Bolton in October 2025. The case centers on notes and diary entries Bolton created during his tenure as national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019. Prosecutors alleged he maintained classified materials on a computer in his Bethesda, Maryland home and in his Washington DC office from April 2018 through August 2025. Materials recovered during an August raid included briefings about weapons of mass destruction and intelligence related to foreign adversaries' leadership and foreign policy matters.
Bolton's legal team, led by attorney Abbe Lowell, has characterized the case as politically motivated. Lowell argued that the notes were personal memoirs rather than officially classified documents. The defense points to the timing of the prosecution and charges against other Trump critics, including former FBI director James Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James, as evidence of political targeting.
Bolton's legal troubles stem partly from his 2020 memoir, "The Room Where It Happened," which offered a critical behind-the-scenes account of his time in the Trump administration. The Justice Department initially sought to block the book's publication on national security grounds through a civil complaint in June 2020. The FBI subsequently investigated Bolton during the Biden administration regarding both the memoir and a 2021 foreign hack of his personal email.
Bolton left the Trump administration in September 2019 and later became a vocal critic of the former president. Trump has dismissed Bolton as a "bad guy," claiming he was unaware of the criminal charges filed against him.
The case reflects broader government efforts to enforce stricter protocols around classified information handling among senior officials. It also comes as Bolton's foreign policy predictions about Trump's second term have proven prescient, with the former adviser noting that more than half the world's countries currently lack US ambassadors and American foreign relationships have taken a backseat to Trump's personal priorities.