Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor John Bolton walks through security as he arrives for a plea deal hearing at U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on June 26 in Greenbelt, Maryland. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who became a critic of the president, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of retaining national security information. [nbcnews.com]
This was a plea deal for Bolton, who also served as a recess-appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the George W. Bush administration. It marks an unexpected chapter in his lengthy career in national security and foreign policy roles, as well as his time a conservative pundit and author.
In October, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton on eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of retaining national defense information, most of it classified as top secret information.
The indictment alleged Bolton “abused his position” as national security adviser during the first Trump administration by “sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” with two relatives. The relatives were not named in the indictment.
Bolton sent classified information over commercial email services such as AOL and Google, according to the indictment.
Bolton appeared Friday morning before U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang, a Barack Obama appointee, in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Bolton faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 60 months and has agreed to pay $2.25 million, federal prosecutors said, according to NBC News. He is set to be sentenced Oct. 28.
