John Bolton pleads guilty to mishandling documents | Political News

President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to mishandling categorized documents in another win for the commander in chief.

Any potential prison sentence can be capped at 5 years, but the settlement might permit him to keep away from this. However, the punishment will finally be up to a choose.

Bolton, who served for half of the first Trump administration, was indicted by a grand jury in October 2025 on costs that he allegedly unlawfully transmitted and retained categorized documents.

The indictment charged Bolton with eight counts of illegal transmission of national protection data and 10 counts of illegal retention of national protection data.

Bolton was accused of utilizing a non-governmental personal e-mail account and messaging functions to transmit at least eight documents to two unauthorized members of the family, each containing data categorized at ranges ranging from “secret” to “top secret.”

The case against Bolton was filed weeks after prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The investigation reached headlines last August when FBI brokers searched Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington workplace, but the plans had been set in movement by the Justice Department when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Longtime Trump adversary

After being ousted from Trump’s administration in 2019, Bolton revealed a e-book criticizing the president as a deeply misinformed chief. Trump’s administration unsuccessfully tried to block the publication of The Room Where it Happened, claiming that the e-book contained categorized data that might hurt national security if uncovered.

At the time, Bolton’s attorneys said he moved ahead with the e-book after a White House National Security Council official, whom Bolton had labored for months, said the manuscript no longer had categorized data.

The indictment against him centered on notes he shared with his spouse and daughter somewhat than on the e-book’s contents. Bolton had initially pleaded not guilty and, in a assertion launched after the indictment, described the fees as half of an “intensive effort” by Trump “to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”