Published on 6/26/2026
John Bolton, the former national security adviser in the administration of President Donald Trump during his first term, pleaded guilty to the charge of keeping documents related to US national security, as part of a deal with federal prosecutors that could avoid prison time.
The deal with the Ministry of Justice may enable him to avoid being thrown behind bars, but the final say on that will be with the judge who will rule on his case.
The deal recommends that the prison term not exceed 5 years, but the judge will not be bound by this limit, and Bolton – who is 77 years old – has the right to withdraw his guilty plea if the judge issues a longer prison sentence, or imposes a fine exceeding $2.25 million.
Federal Judge Theodore Chuang is scheduled to issue his decision on October 28, in the Greenbelt District Court in Maryland, against Bolton, who after leaving the White House became one of Trump’s most vocal critics.
Content of charges
Last October, the prosecution charged Bolton with 18 charges related to keeping or publishing confidential materials, including almost daily notes that he exchanged with his family members, during the period of preparing his memoirs about his government career.
Bolton was accused of “abusing his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of documents related to his daily activities” with two aides who lacked the necessary security clearances to view them.
Media reports indicated that the two people – whose identities were not revealed in the indictment – were his wife and daughter. The indictment stated that he transmitted this confidential information to them via his personal, unsecured email addresses.
One charge
He first denied all the charges against him, but today, Friday, he pleaded guilty to only one charge, which is concealing documents related to national security, which carries a penalty of up to 5 years in prison, according to what the federal prosecutor for the state of Maryland, Kelly Hayes, said after a judicial hearing.
Hayes explained that John Bolton will also have to pay a fine of $2.25 million and give up his pension, noting that the date for his sentencing has been set for next October 28.
In October 2025, Bolton became the third person targeted by Trump since his return to the White House, after former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
In June 2020, Bolton, his country’s former representative to the United Nations, issued a critical book about his 17-month stint as National Security Advisor in the White House, in which he described Trump as “unqualified” to lead the United States.
Trump has publicly and repeatedly called for formal charges against his political opponents, an approach most recently embodied by his successive appointments of two of his former personal lawyers, Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, to leadership positions in the Justice Department.
