Crystal Dike
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under U.S. President Donald Trump before becoming one of his fiercest critics, has been criminally indicted on multiple federal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information.
The U.S. Department of Justice presented the case to a grand jury in Maryland on Thursday, which returned an indictment accusing Bolton, 76, of transmitting and unlawfully retaining national defense information.
According to a 26-page indictment filed at a federal court in Greenbelt, Bolton faces eight counts of transmission of national defense information (NDI) and ten counts of unlawful retention of NDI. Prosecutors allege he used personal email and messaging apps to share top-secret material involving U.S. defense intelligence, future attacks, and foreign relations.
The charges follow an FBI search of Bolton’s home and office in Bethesda, Maryland, in August, as part of an ongoing investigation. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison for each count. He is expected to surrender to authorities on Friday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, announcing the charges, said, “No one is above the law.”
In a statement, Bolton maintained his innocence, describing the indictment as politically motivated. “I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those [President Trump] deems to be his enemies,” he said, vowing to defend his “lawful conduct” in court.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the allegations stem from diary entries Bolton kept during his 45-year public service career, describing them as “unclassified and shared only with his immediate family.” CNN reported that Bolton is accused of sharing some information with his wife and daughter.
Bolton, who was dismissed from Trump’s administration in 2019, drew the president’s ire with his 2020 memoir The Room Where It Happened, which portrayed Trump as uninformed on global affairs. The Trump administration unsuccessfully sought to block the book’s publication, claiming it contained classified material.
The indictment makes Bolton the third of President Trump’s political opponents to face charges in recent weeks, following cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James in October and former FBI Director James Comey in September.
Asked about the indictment on Thursday, President Trump said he was unaware of it but described Bolton as “a bad guy.”
Bolton, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, had his Secret Service protection removed in January.
The Justice Department has not commented further on the case.