Former National Security Advisor John Bolton spent years attacking President Donald Trump and claiming to be the real guardian of America’s security.
On Thursday, Bolton pleaded guilty to a felony for leaking Top Secret national security documents through his personal email account.
Bolton has reached a plea deal with the Justice Department that will resolve the 18-count criminal case filed against him last October, according to multiple reports. Under the agreement, Bolton will plead guilty to a single felony count of retaining classified national security information and pay a $2.25 million fine. The formal change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The sentencing range on the single count runs from zero to 60 months in prison, which means the deal could allow Bolton to avoid prison time entirely,.
According to prosecutors, Bolton systematically sent more than 1,000 pages of materials classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level while national security adviser, which included intelligence about U.S. military operations, to his wife and daughter to keep them up to date on his daily routine.
Neither woman held a security clearance. He transmitted the materials via a personal AOL email account and through commercial messaging apps from April 2018 through September 2019, covering his entire tenure as Trump’s NSA. He also illegally kept classified documents at his Maryland home, which FBI agents found during a search last summer.
After leaving the White House, Bolton’s AOL account was accessed by hackers the FBI believes was linked to Iran. The obtained access to the cache of classified information Bolton had illegally stored there and tried to use it against him.
According to a search warrant affidavit obtained by Fox News, the hackers taunted Bolton as “Mr. Mustache” and sent an extortion email to his assistant warning: ” I do not think you would be interested in the FBI being aware of the leaked content of John’s email (some of which have been attached), especially after the recent acquittal. This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary’s emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side! Contact me before it’s too late.”
Bolton’s team notified the FBI of the hack in July 2021 but did not reveal that the account illegally contained sensitive classified information. That omission ultimately led to Thursday’s guilty plea.
Bolton had originally pleaded not guilty in October, calling the charges politically motivated retribution for his outspoken criticism of Trump.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who announced the indictment last fall, said it simply: “There is one tier of justice for all Americans.”
Bolton joins a short but notable list of prominent Trump critics facing federal criminal charges. Former FBI Director James Comey is headed to trial on charges related to the “86 47” Instagram post. New York Attorney General Letitia James has been charged with bank fraud. All three have claimed political targeting.
Bolton, 76, has served in senior government positions across four decades, including as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush and as Trump’s third national security adviser. He was fired in September 2019 and immediately began attacking Trump in public statements, media appearances, and ultimately in his memoir.
He will now be a convicted felon.