President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, John Bolton, has reportedly accepted a plea deal in his classified documents mishandling case. MS NOW reported Thursday, June 4, that the former advisor has agreed to plead guilty to retaining classified information in a private diary.
Bolton was indicted in October of last year on eight counts of transmission of national defense information and ten counts of retention of national defense information. When he was initially charged, Bolton claimed innocence and that he was being targeted because of his public opposition to President Donald Trump. According to the indictment, Bolton shared “more than a thousand pages of his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor – including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI [sensitive compartmented information] level – with two unauthorized individuals.” Those two “unauthorized individuals” were allegedly his wife and daughter.
A Clearer Picture Emerged
CNN first reported the deal, citing “three sources familiar with the matter,” writing Thursday morning that Bolton was “expected to plead guilty.” The New York Times then found a notice in Maryland federal court, where Mr. Bolton was indicted last year, which indicates he’s now scheduled for re-arraignment. This hearing could signify he plans to change his plea to guilty. The hearing is reportedly scheduled for June 26.
The Associated Press cited yet more unnamed sources – “a person familiar with the matter” – to report the deal would drop the total charge count from 18 to just a single count of retaining classified information. Bolton will reportedly face a $2.25 million fine and could avoid jail time entirely – though that would be up to the judge in June, and he could technically still face as long as five years in prison.
As the morning stretched on, more outlets reported either that Bolton planned to reach an agreement or that he had already, citing various sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Neither Bolton nor his legal team were reachable for comment, but the DOJ did finally refuse to comment – which is an answer, of a sort, in of itself – and referred USA Today to Bolton’s court docket.
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