{"id":5214,"date":"2026-06-26T10:37:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5214"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:02","slug":"ex-national-security-adviser-expected-to-plead-guilty-in-classified-files-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5214","title":{"rendered":"Ex-national security adviser expected to plead guilty in classified files case"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Bolton served in the role in Donald Trump\u2019s first administration before becoming a vocal critic of the president.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Cuts deepen the debate over the politicization of intelligence agencies<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Former national security adviser John Bolton. (Leah Millis\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump\u2019s national security adviser before becoming a vocal critic, is expected to plead guilty in federal court Friday to one count of retaining sensitive government information \u2014 a deal that could come with far less potential prison time than if he\u2019d gone to trial and lost.<\/p>\n

The admission would be a black mark on the legacy of a public servant whose career has spanned several presidential administrations, and deliver a victory to a Justice Department focused on prosecuting Trump\u2019s political foes.<\/p>\n

Bolton initially pleaded not guilty in the case that prosecutors alleged involved the foreign policy expert sending \u201cdiary-like\u201d recollections of his sensitive work to relatives who were helping him prepare a memoir. But earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang scheduled a change-of-plea hearing for June 26 in Maryland federal court.<\/p>\n

Aside from the guilty plea on one count of retention of national defense information, Bolton has also agreed to pay a fine of $2.25 million<\/a>, The Washington Post has previously reported.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement \u2014 which isn\u2019t final until accepted by the judge \u2014 Bolton<\/a> could face anywhere from no time behind bars to five years in prison, The Post has reported. In the original indictment, which charged Bolton with 18 counts of transmitting or retaining national defense information, he faced as many as 10 years behind bars per count.<\/p>\n

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.<\/p>\n

A longtime conservative, Bolton served in the administrations of numerous Republican presidents. Under President George W. Bush, Bolton was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later worked as Trump\u2019s third national security adviser during his first term in the White House. The president fired Bolton in 2019<\/a> after the two clashed over Trump\u2019s approach to foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Bolton went on to call Trump \u201cstunningly uninformed\u201d in his 2020 memoir, \u201cThe Room Where It Happened,\u201d about his time in the White House.<\/p>

Read more This Democratic congresswoman almost helped elect a Republican speaker<\/a><\/p>\n

It was his preparation for that book, authorities said, that became the basis for his indictment. Federal prosecutors accused Bolton of sharing more than 1,000 pages of the \u201cdiary-like\u201d summaries of his work from 2018 to 2019 with relatives through a personal email account. That account, authorities said, was later hacked by someone that U.S. officials believe was linked to the Iranian government. FBI agents also raided Bolton\u2019s downtown Washington office and his Bethesda, Maryland, home, seizing documents described as \u201cclassified\u201d or \u201csecret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolton\u2019s indictment last October came soon after two of Trump\u2019s other political foes \u2014 former FBI director James B. Comey<\/a> and New York Attorney General Letitia James<\/a> \u2014 were targeted for criminal prosecution in separate cases.<\/p>\n

The charges against Comey and James, which were pursued against the objections of career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, were both dismissed and widely criticized as political retribution.<\/p>\n

Comey has since been indicted in a separate case<\/a> in federal court in North Carolina on allegations that a photo he posted on social media in 2025 constituted a dangerous threat to the president. He asserted his innocence in a video statement.<\/p>\n

The Bolton case, which began with a probe initiated under President Joe Biden\u2019s Justice Department, has been led by veteran prosecutors in Maryland \u2014 including U.S. attorney Kelly O. Hayes and national security division chief Tom Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Bolton had maintained that his conduct was legal and said last fall that the Justice Department\u2019s investigation was an extension of Trump\u2019s \u201cintensive effort to intimidate his opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Trump told reporters at the White House that the veteran diplomat was a \u201cbad guy.\u201d<\/p>

Read more After busy week of trades, Capitals enter draft with No. 18 overall pick<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cToo bad,\u201d Trump said then. \u201cBut that\u2019s the way it goes.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Bolton served in the role in Donald Trump\u2019s first administration before becoming a vocal critic of the president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-national security adviser expected to plead guilty in classified files case - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-national security adviser expected to plead guilty in classified files case - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Bolton served in the role in Donald Trump\u2019s first administration before becoming a vocal critic of the president.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T10:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e3b8f4d1ddd6fae54ed86137f5e439c0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2070\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Ex-national security adviser expected to plead guilty in classified files case\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T10:37:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e68de5667a22366ccf5582af9313a3f7.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214\",\"name\":\"Ex-national security adviser expected to plead guilty in classified files case - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e68de5667a22366ccf5582af9313a3f7.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T10:37:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5214#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e68de5667a22366ccf5582af9313a3f7.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e68de5667a22366ccf5582af9313a3f7.jpg\",\"width\":2070,\"height\":1360,\"caption\":\"FILE PHOTO: Former White House national security adviser John Bolton arrives at U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, in Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S., October 17, 2025. 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