{"id":131814,"date":"2026-06-04T09:40:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T15:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ex-national-security-adviser-john-bolton-will-plead-guilty-in-classified-information-case-ap-sour\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:36:22","slug":"ex-national-security-adviser-john-bolton-will-plead-guilty-in-classified-information-case-ap-sour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ex-national-security-adviser-john-bolton-will-plead-guilty-in-classified-information-case-ap-sour\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case: AP source"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – John Bolton speaks at Harvard Kennedy School's John F Kennedy Jr Forum, Sept. 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton<\/a> has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts<\/a> of either retaining or disseminating classified information, including diary-like notes from his time in government that officials say he shared with his family members as he was preparing a memoir about his time in office.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that had not been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.<\/p>\n

The case against Bolton, filed weeks after prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey<\/a> and New York Attorney General Letitia James<\/a>, unfolded against the backdrop of concerns that the Justice Department was using its law enforcement powers to pursue perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump. The investigation burst into public view last August<\/a> when FBI agents served search warrants at his Maryland hone and Washington office, but it had been well underway by the time Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Bolton is a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power. He served for more than a year in Trump\u2019s first administration before being fired in 2019<\/a> and publishing a critical book that portrayed the Republican president as deeply misinformed and painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership and decision-making.<\/p>\n

Trump’s administration fought unsuccessfully to block the publication of \u201cThe Room Where it Happened\u201d<\/a> on the grounds that the book risked disclosing classified information. The plea deal that Bolton will enter covers the notes he shared with relatives as opposed to information published in the tell-all book.<\/p>\n

A rearraignment, which typically signals a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The indictment’s 18 counts carried a threat of a substantial prison sentence in the event of conviction.<\/p>\n

Court documents alleged that he shared with two family members \u201cdiary-like\u201d entries with information classified as high as top secret that he had learned from meetings with other U.S. government officials, from intelligence briefings or talks with foreign leaders. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, \u201cNone of which we talk about!!!\u201d In response, one of his relatives wrote, \u201cShhhhh,\u201d prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

The indictment said that among the material shared was information about foreign adversaries that in some cases revealed details about sources and methods used by the U.S. government to collect intelligence. One document related to a foreign adversary\u2019s plans for a missile launch, while another detailed U.S. government plans for covert action and included intelligence blaming an adversary for an attack, court papers say.<\/p>\n

In a statement released after his indictment, Bolton described the charges as part of an \u201cintensive effort\u201d by Trump to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”<\/p>\n

Bolton also served in the Department of Justice during President Ronald Reagan\u2019s administration and was a State Department point person on arms control during George W. Bush\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

Bolton was nominated by Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the strong supporter of the Iraq War was unable to win Senate confirmation. He resigned after serving 17 months through a recess appointment that allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate approval.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Bolton was appointed to serve as Trump\u2019s third national security adviser. His brief tenure was characterized by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Those rifts ultimately led to Bolton\u2019s departure, with Trump announcing on social media in September 2019 that he had accepted Bolton\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

Bolton subsequently criticized Trump\u2019s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, including by alleging that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine<\/a> to that country\u2019s willingness to conduct investigations into Joe Biden, who was soon to be Trump\u2019s Democratic rival in the 2020 presidential election, and members of the Biden family.<\/p>\n

Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a \u201cwashed-up guy\u201d and a \u201ccrazy\u201d warmonger who would have led the country into \u201cWorld War Six.\u201d<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – John Bolton speaks at Harvard Kennedy School's John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Sept. 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– John Bolton speaks at Harvard Kennedy School's John F Kennedy Jr Forum, Sept. 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File)(AP Photo\/Michael Dwyer, File) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131834,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131814\/revisions\/131834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131814"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}