Former Trump adviser faces up to 5 years in prison as he pleads guilty

2026-06-04 23:56:47Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
John Bolton

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton is expected to plead guilty in a case related to his handling of classified national security documents, according to information published by CNN.

According to these reports, Bolton intends to plead guilty to a criminal charge related to the illegal possession of sensitive national security documents. He has also reportedly agreed to pay a fine exceeding $2 million.

The charge in question carries a prison sentence of zero to five years, according to US law.

The United States Department of Justice did not comment on the information, referring to the court file of the case, which shows that a hearing is scheduled for June 26.

The settlement comes months after federal prosecutors in Maryland indicted Bolton on charges of keeping diary entries from Donald Trump's first term in the White House in his apartment.

According to the indictment, Bolton allegedly sent more than 1,000 pages of information related to his daily activities to two unauthorized individuals through a personal email account. However, these transmissions of classified information are not included in the charges to which he is expected to plead guilty.

Bolton served for about a year as National Security Advisor in the first Trump administration before becoming one of the US president's fiercest critics. In 2020, he published a memoir with highly critical tones of Trump, causing strong clashes between the two figures.

Initially, the prosecution authorities had filed eight charges for transmitting national defense information and ten charges for illegally retaining such information.

The first criminal and civil investigation into Bolton's book was launched in 2020 by the Justice Department during the first Trump administration, but was closed about a year later. In 2021, the FBI opened a new investigation after it was found that Bolton's email had been compromised by hackers that authorities attributed to Iran.

During the investigation, diary entries containing highly classified information from the period when he served as National Security Advisor were discovered.


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