President Donald Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser John Bolton pleaded responsible Friday to at least one depend of unlawful retention of nationwide safety data.
Bolton entered his plea to the one felony depend in federal court docket in Greenbelt, Maryland, earlier than U.S. District Choose Theodore Chuang.
The responsible plea makes Bolton to date the one efficiently prosecuted case in Trump’s campaign of retribution in opposition to these he perceives to be his political enemies.
Bolton had confronted 18 counts of illegal transmission and retention of nationwide protection data for allegedly sharing notes along with his spouse and daughter — a few of which contained data categorised as excessive as “Prime Secret” — throughout his time serving within the first Trump administration.
Bolton modified his plea to responsible with respect to depend 12 of his indictment.
Sitting in court docket Friday alongside his legal professional Abbe Lowell, Bolton answered a collection of questions from Choose Chuang, acknowledging his rights and his voluntary choice to plead responsible to the cost, which carries a most jail sentence of 10 years.
When requested if he was pleading responsible as a result of he’s, in truth, responsible, Bolton responded to Chuang: “I’m, Your Honor, I am sorry for it.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former Nationwide Safety Advisor John Bolton arrives for a plea listening to at U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maryland, June 26, 2026 in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Al Drago/Getty Photographs
Choose Chuang set Bolton’s sentencing listening to for Oct. 28.
In keeping with phrases of the plea settlement outlined by prosecutors in court docket, the federal government is not going to search a sentence of greater than 60 months and Bolton has agreed to forfeit roughly $2.2 million to resolve the case.
Choose Chuang will in the end have last discretion over how a lot time Bolton might serve, if any.
Bolton additionally agreed to serve 100 hours of neighborhood service and is forfeiting any retirement pay tied to his time in federal service.
The depend he pleaded responsible to includes holding categorised nationwide safety data in diaries, in response to sources. Bolton was anticipated to take care of that he didn’t take paperwork with classification markings out of presidency workplaces.
“Mr. Bolton knew how one can deal with categorised data, the place it needs to be saved, the way it needs to be saved, and with whom he might share that data,” U.S. Lawyer Kelly Hayes instructed reporters exterior court docket following Bolton’s responsible plea. “He additionally knew the harm to nationwide safety that may very well be attributable to mishandling that delicate data. However, as Mr. Bolton simply admitted, he put our nationwide safety at grave threat in violation of the legislation.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former Nationwide Safety Advisor John Bolton arrives for a plea listening to at U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maryland, June 26, 2026 in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Al Drago/Getty Photographs
Hayes mentioned the particular depend Bolton pleaded responsible to concerned Bolton’s illegal retention of intelligence about an adversary’s plans for an assault performed in opposition to U.S. forces out of the country.
“It contained human intelligence utilizing delicate sources and strategies, and it mentioned a covert motion program,” Hayes mentioned.
Bolton, who was nationwide safety adviser for a part of the primary Trump administration, was indicted by a grand jury in October 2025 on costs that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained categorised paperwork.
The indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Maryland, charged Bolton with eight counts of illegal transmission of nationwide protection data in addition to 10 counts of illegal retention of nationwide protection data.
Prosecutors had accused Bolton of utilizing a non-government private e mail account and messaging utility to transmit to 2 unauthorized members of the family at the least eight paperwork that contained data categorised at ranges starting from “Secret” to “Prime Secret.”
