(AFP) – John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security advisor before becoming an outspoken critic of the US president, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of retaining classified documents. Asked by federal judge Theodore Chuang if he was guilty, the 77-year-old veteran diplomat replied: “I am, Your Honor, and I’m sorry for it.” Bolton, who faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, must also pay a $2.25 million fine and forfeit his federal pension as part of a plea agreement, the Department of Justice said. Sentencing was set for October 28.
“As Mr. Bolton admitted, he shared more than 1,000 pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor, including information related to national defense with two individuals who neither had the security clearances nor the need to know that information,” prosecutor Kelly Hayes said after the hearing. “Remarkably, he did so using his personal email account and non-government messaging applications,” she said of his actions from April 2018 and September 2019.
Bolton, one of several Trump foes to be hit with criminal charges since the Republican president returned to the White House, was indicted in October on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining top secret national defense information. The two individuals have not been identified, but Bolton is believed to have shared the information with his wife and daughter. The material was allegedly later used in a book that Bolton wrote, “The Room Where It Happened,” that was highly critical of the Trump administration.
Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, frequently appears on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called “unfit to be president.”
Amplifying the impact of Bolton’s actions, his personal email was hacked by an Iranian-linked actor after he left office in September 2019, authorities said. “He reported that hack to law enforcement but did not tell the agents or anyone else in the US government that the account contained national defense information,” the Department of Justice said.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at his former aide and withdrew his security detail shortly after returning to the White House in January of last year. The Trump Justice Department has sought to bring cases against other prominent critics of the president, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.
Comey was indicted in April for allegedly threatening Trump’s life, five months after a previous case against the ex-FBI chief was thrown out. The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post Comey made that showed the numbers “86 47” spelled out in seashells on a beach. Trump has alleged that “86” was slang for kill and “47” was a reference to his being the 47th president. The case against James, which has since been dismissed, centered on an allegedly falsified mortgage application.
Unlike the James and Comey cases, however, the investigation into Bolton’s alleged mishandling of classified material began during the administration of former president Joe Biden.
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