The former Trump national security adviser reportedly reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors after being charged with retaining and transmitting national defense information.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton is expected to plead guilty to one count of illegally retaining sensitive national security documents under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, according to a CNN report citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The agreement calls for Bolton to pay a fine of more than $2 million. The single count carries a potential sentence of up to 60 months in prison.
A court hearing is scheduled for June 26.
Bolton was originally charged in Maryland with eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of retaining national defense information. The case centered on diary-like records from his time in the Trump White House that prosecutors alleged were kept at his residence.
Federal prosecutors accused Bolton of sharing more than 1,000 pages of information through his personal email account with two people who were not authorized to receive it, reportedly his wife and daughter. Those transmission allegations are not part of the plea deal.
According to the indictment, Bolton used personal email and messaging accounts to transmit Top Secret intelligence involving foreign adversaries, possible future attacks and U.S. foreign-policy relations. Prosecutors also alleged that he kept classified materials at his home, including sensitive intelligence concerning foreign leaders and U.S. intelligence sources.
The FBI Baltimore Field Office led the investigation, with oversight from the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The indictment included two central sets of charges: eight counts of transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information.
The investigation escalated after Bolton’s email account was breached by suspected Iranian hackers. Investigators later discovered the classified diary-like entries, according to the case record described in the report.
Bolton served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser for one year before becoming a prominent critic of the president. Trump has repeatedly called for Bolton’s arrest, particularly over Bolton’s 2020 memoir, which criticized the administration and was alleged to have contained classified information.
The first Trump Justice Department opened investigations into the book in 2020, but those inquiries were closed within a year. A new investigation began the following year after the email breach.
The expected plea agreement would resolve the case with a guilty plea to one retention count, while leaving out the transmission allegations that formed a major part of the original indictment.
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