John Bolton indicted for mishandling classified documents
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Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton faces 18 charges for allegedly sharing classified documents with unauthorized individuals, including family members, and storing top-secret material at home.
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John Bolton speaks at Harvard Kennedy School's John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on September 29, 2025. (AP)
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on 18 charges, including eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of unlawfully retaining classified material.
According to the indictment, Bolton, while serving under President Donald Trump, allegedly shared over 1,000 pages of sensitive information with two unauthorized individuals, his wife and daughter, via personal email accounts. FBI agents also found printed "diary" entries and classified documents, including materials related to weapons of mass destruction, at his Maryland residence and Washington, D.C. office.
Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities in Greenbelt, Maryland, as early as Friday. His case has been assigned to Judge Theodore D. Chuang, an Obama appointee.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the case is based on "meticulous work" and vowed that the agency "will stop at nothing to bring to justice anyone who threatens our national security."
Bolton becomes the third prominent Trump critic to face federal charges within the past month. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the charges politically motivated and insisted the records involved were unclassified personal diaries long known to the FBI.
Sources say the investigation focuses in part on diary-like notes Bolton emailed to himself using an AOL account while in office.
