John Bolton to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges

Former national security adviser John Bolton is expected to plead guilty to one of the federal charges against him, according to a source that shared this information with CNN.

In October 2025, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on various counts, including eight related to unlawful transmission of national defense information and ten for unlawful retention of such information.

Now 77, Bolton is said to be preparing to plead guilty to a count involving the illegal storage of classified documents, along with agreeing to pay a hefty fine of $2.25 million.

Prosecutors have accused him of improperly retaining confidential documents while crafting his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” which was published in 2020.

Prior to his dismissal by President Trump in September 2019, Bolton reportedly sent thousands of pages of classified material to family members through a private email server.

Following a raid at Bolton’s office in August 2025, sources indicated that he was allegedly using his family to secure classified information.

Trump has been vocal about his disdain for Bolton since parting ways with him, labeling him in June 2020 as a “leaked creepster” who deserved prison time for exploiting classified information for monetary gain.

While Bolton will confess to mishandling classified information in his diary, he intends to maintain that he did not unlawfully remove any documents from government holdings.

Authorities anticipate he will formally enter his guilty plea during an arraignment set for June 26th.

Neither Bolton nor the Justice Department has released any statements regarding this situation.

Background Context

Bolton served in the Trump administration from 2018 to 2019 and has long advocated for a change in Iran’s regime. That said, he has, at times, criticized how Trump handled U.S.-Israeli interactions concerning Iran.