John Bolton, the former National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump, has reportedly agreed to a plea deal over the mishandling of classified national security information.
Bolton is set to plead guilty to a single felony count of illegal retention of sensitive national security information and will pay a fine exceeding $2 million, reported CNN on Thursday. A conviction for illegal retention carries a potential prison sentence of zero to five years, with the hearing scheduled for June 26.
The plea deal comes in the wake of charges filed against Bolton by Maryland prosecutors for allegedly retaining personal diary entries from his tenure in Trump’s first administration at his residence. These entries, reportedly over a thousand pages, contained information about his daily activities, which he allegedly shared with two unauthorized individuals via his personal email account.
Bolton was initially charged with eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of retaining national defense information. He pleaded not guilty last year to 18 criminal charges, including transmitting and retaining national defense information.
However, the charges he plans to plead guilty to this year do not include the alleged transmission of classified information. His guilty plea will only cover the charge that he recorded sensitive national security information in his personal papers, as per the report.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comments.
Trump-Bolton Case Advances
Trump had repeatedly demanded Bolton’s arrest over his critical 2020 memoir, alleging it included classified information that should have led to jail time. According to CNN, unlike other cases involving Trump’s perceived adversaries, such as FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, against whom the case has now been dismissed, the case against Bolton continues to be backed by career prosecutors and investigators.
Recently, Bolton had expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran ceasefire. He warned that the ceasefire was strengthening Tehran’s position and that the extended diplomatic pause was giving Iran an advantage as negotiations remained unresolved.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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