Report: John Bolton pleads guilty to illegal possession of classified information

• The former national security adviser is on the way to a plea deal with the prosecution in the US.
• Bolton pleaded guilty to a single count of unlawful possession of classified information.
• He is expected to pay a large fine and faces a sentence of up to five years in prison.
• The original indictment included 18 different sections on improper handling of sensitive information.

John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors in which he will plead guilty to illegally possessing classified information, according to reports yesterday (Thursday) in the United States.

It was also reported that under the terms of the settlement, which still requires the official approval of a federal judge, the 77-year-old Bolton will plead guilty to a single charge and pay a fine of 2.25 million dollars. He could face up to five years in prison, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Last October, a federal grand jury indicted Bolton on an 18-count indictment. The prosecution accused him of poor handling and negligent preservation of sensitive government information, which he collected over seven years.

According to the indictment, Bolton recorded his experiences in the White House in “diary-like” records that included over 1,000 pages, and sent them to his wife and daughter as part of the preparations for writing his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened” – published in 2020. Trump then tried to prevent the publication of the book on the grounds that Bolton had violated a non-disclosure agreement he signed upon taking office, but his efforts failed.

In August 2025, the FBI searched his home. Two months later, in mid-October, the indictment was filed against him – which also stated that classified information could have been exposed after Iranian hackers penetrated Bolton’s private email account and gained access to the materials he shared.

Sources familiar with the details of the settlement emphasized to CBS that within the framework of the agreement, Bolton is not accused of taking physical documents to his home, leaking them to the media, or deliberately transferring them to hostile foreign parties. In the settlement, there is also no allegation of wrongdoing on his part in connection with the actual publication of the book. The offense focuses on the fact that he stored and held the classified information on private networks and in an unsecured manner, and Bolton now intends to accept full responsibility for this. The next hearing in his case is scheduled for June 26.