John Bolton, who served in high-ranking national security and diplomatic positions under both Presidents Donald Trump and George W. Bush, is expected to plead guilty on federal charges of retaining classified information, according to reports.
CNN first reported that Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, would plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents. He was indicted on 18 charges for obtaining classified information while on the job and illegally storing it.
Following his time in the Trump White House, Bolton became a critic and arguably a target of Trump.
Though the Justice Department faces criticism for issuing indictments and launching investigations against some of Trump’s political foes, a Daily Signal analysis noted that the Bolton case was potentially much stronger than charges brought against other Trump foes.
Bush tapped Bolton to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations as a recess appointment after he failed to get Senate confirmation.
CNN also reported that Bolton would agree to pay a more than $2 million fine. A conviction on one count in the case could include up to 60 months in prison.
Federal law enforcement says it obtained information from a foreign adversary’s spy service, including emails that allegedly show Bolton may have sent sensitive information on an unclassified system while working in the Trump White House. The information was allegedly sent to people helping him write his 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”
Prosecutors determined that he shared more than 1,000 pages of information about his daily activities with unauthorized individuals, including his wife and daughter, CNN reported.
After being indicted last year, Bolton was dismissive of the charges and compared Trump to a notorious Soviet dictator.
“When my email was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware. In four years of the prior [Biden] administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed,” Bolton said in a statement. “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.’”
In recent years, Trump, former President Joe Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have faced federal investigations for alleged mishandling of classified information. None were charged.
However, other high-profile individuals have been charged in such cases.
Retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA Director in the Obama administration, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2015 for sharing classified information with a biographer and girlfriend and was sentenced to probation.
Sandy Berger, a former Clinton administration national security adviser, was caught on video removing information from the National Archives reading room and stuffing it into his socks before his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor and paid a fine.
