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John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to US President Donald Trump and later one of his most vocal critics, has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the handling of classified national security documents.
Bolton is expected to plead guilty to a criminal charge related to illegally possessing sensitive national security documents, according to sources familiar with the matter. He has also agreed to pay a fine exceeding $2 million.
The sentence for this offense provides for a range of zero to 60 months in prison, and the court hearing is scheduled for June 26, according to court documents.
The issue arose a few months ago, when prosecutors in Maryland accused Bolton of storing personal notes from his time serving in the White House during Trump's first term in his apartment.
According to the indictment, Bolton shared more than 1,000 pages of information about his daily activities with two unauthorized individuals through his personal email account. CNN previously reported that the individuals were his wife and daughter. However, transmitting classified information is not included in the charge to which he is expected to plead guilty.
Initially, Bolton faced 18 charges, including transmitting and retaining protected information related to national defense.
Donald Trump had been calling for Bolton's criminal prosecution for years after the publication of his memoirs in 2020, a book critical of the former president. Trump had claimed that the book contained classified information and that the author should face criminal consequences.
However, according to CNN, the case against Bolton continued to be supported by career prosecutors and investigators, unlike some other investigations involving Trump's political opponents.
The Justice Department of the first Trump administration had opened criminal and civil investigations into Bolton's book in 2020, but they were closed within a year.
A new FBI investigation began in 2021, during Joe Biden's presidency, after suspected Iranian hackers compromised Bolton's email account. During the investigation, authorities discovered diary-like notes containing highly classified information from his time as National Security Advisor.
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