John Bolton Indicted Over Handling of Classified Materials

The US Justice Department has charged John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump during his first term, with allegedly mishandling classified materials.

Bolton was indicted on 18 counts by a federal grand jury in Maryland. He’s accused of breaking laws related to the transmission or retention of national defense information, according to a copy of the indictment made public Thursday.

The alleged misconduct spanned from about April 2018 to August 2025, according to the indictment. Bolton “abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” on the job, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing a confidential information. Officials had been discussing terms for Bolton to turn himself in, Bloomberg has reported.

The US Justice Department has charged John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump during his first term, over allegedly mishandling classified materials. Kate Sullivan reports on "Balance of Power."

Former national security adviser John Bolton arrived at a Maryland courthouse Friday morning to face charges he allegedly mishandled classified materials.

The US Justice Department has charged Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump during his first term, with 18 counts. The charges involve breaking laws related to the transmission or retention of national defense information, according to a copy of the indictment made public Thursday.

Bolton intends to plead not guilty, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified ahead of the proceeding.

The alleged misconduct spanned from about April 2018 to August 2025, according to the indictment. Bolton “abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” on the job, prosecutors said.

Bolton, who became one of Trump’s fiercest critics, is the latest of the president’s perceived enemies to face charges.

“Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law.”

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement after the indictment that his client hadn’t broken the law and the documents involve portions of personal diaries and other unclassified records.

“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Lowell said. “We look forward to proving once again that Ambassador Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”

Discussing Terms

Between April 2018 and September 2019, Bolton allegedly “sent diary-like entries” to two unnamed individuals — who were identified as being related to Bolton — that contained top secret information, according to the indictment. Bolton sent some of the information using his personal email accounts, such as those hosted by AOL and Google, prosecutors said.

Information that Bolton allegedly mishandled included details about covert action plans and pending attacks, human intelligence gathered using sensitive sources and methods, and intelligence on an adversary’s leaders, according to the indictment.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that he hadn’t reviewed the case against Bolton, but described his former adviser as “a bad person.”

Bolton allegedly used a group chat to send some messages. According to the indictment, one of the unnamed individuals asked why they were using a group chat. Bolton replied: “For Diary in the future!!!”

FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and Washington office in August. They found items marked as classified, secret and confidential during the office search, according to an earlier court filing.

Trump has called for retribution against some of his fiercest critics.

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