John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Information, Faces Five-Year Prison Sentence
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to mishandling classified information during his time in the Trump White House.
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When a judge asked whether he was guilty during a hearing on Friday, Bolton responded: “I am, Your Honor, and sorry for it.”
The Justice Department is seeking a five-year sentence for Bolton, who also previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He has also agreed to pay a fine of $2.25 million.
Bolton is scheduled to be sentenced on October 28.
The guilty plea comes after Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on 18 counts of illegally hoarding or sending national security information back in October. If convicted, Bolton would’ve faced life in prison, as each count carried a potential ten-year prison sentence.
Bolton’s plea deal saw him plead guilty to just one of those counts.
Prosecutors accused Bolton of using his private email to send sensitive national security documents to unauthorized individuals, and unlawfully retaining documents and notes from his time as national security adviser. Bolton allegedly shared more than 1,000 pages of classified information via email, including top-secret national defense information.
The indictment said Bolton sent “diary-like entries” to the individuals containing classified information. He would transcribe handwritten notes from his workday and email them to unnamed individuals, investigators said. Bolton also emailed classified information with an AOL or Google account.
Federal agents raided Bolton’s home and Washington, D.C., office to find evidence for the case last summer.
The FBI said its search of Bolton’s office yielded folders labeled “confidential” and “secret.” Federal agents found materials related to weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the United Nations, and the U.S. government’s strategic communications.
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“The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law,” FBI Director Kash Patel said at the time of Bolton’s indictment.
“The case was based on meticulous work from dedicated career professionals at the FBI who followed the facts without fear or favor. Weaponization of justice will not be tolerated, and this FBI will stop at nothing to bring to justice anyone who threatens our national security.”
At the time of his indictment, Bolton denied the charges and said he had “become the latest target” in President Trump’s “weaponization” of the federal government.
“When my e-mail was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware,” he said at the time. The indictment says a “cyber actor” believed to be tied to Iran hacked Bolton’s private email at some point after he left government.
“In four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed,” he added. “Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’”
“These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct. Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom. I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power,” Bolton said.
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