John Bolton pleads guilty to retaining classified material
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton admitted to one count of retaining national security information and faces up to five years in prison.
Former national security adviser John Bolton entered a guilty plea on Friday in federal court for a single count of retaining national security information related to his service during the first Trump administration. The plea was entered during a re-arraignment before Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland. Bolton, who has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, faces a potential prison term of up to 60 months and has agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 28.
Bolton said the material he kept was an electronic diary entry shared only with two family members. He was originally indicted in October 2025 on eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of retaining such information, to which he had previously pleaded not guilty. During the hearing, Judge Chuang confirmed the count being pleaded to, and Bolton responded, “Yes, your honor.”
“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Bolton’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said. “These charges stem from portions of Amb. Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021.”