Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton was released from federal court on October 17, 2025, in Greenbelt, Maryland, after pleading not guilty to charges of mishandling classified material. Mr. Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
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John Bolton, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has agreed to plead guilty to keeping classified information in a personal diary, MS NOW reported Thursday.
Bolton, a vocal critic of Trump, could be sentenced to up to 60 months in prison and a $2.25 million fine as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors on a single charge, MS NOW reported.
Sources cited by the newspaper said only his wife and daughter were exposed to the classified information.
Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland in October on eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of possessing national defense information. FBI agents raided Mr. Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, and his office in Washington, D.C., on August 22 as part of the investigation.
Bolton, who served as President Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on June 26.
He is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in the case on the same day.
When Bolton was charged, he said he was innocent and that he was being targeted because of public opposition to President Trump.
The indictment against him says that from 2018 to August 2025, Bolton shared “more than 1,000 pages of his daily activities as National Security Advisor, including defense-related information that was classified to the Top Secret/SCI level, with two unauthorized relatives.”
Neither of the two individuals, identified by MS NOW as Bolton’s wife and daughter, had security clearances, according to the indictment.
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