by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 17, 2025
John Bolton, a national security adviser in the first Trump Administration, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Maryland on 18 counts of mishandling classified information.
The Department of Justice said that Bolton was charged with eight counts of transmission of national defense information (NDI) and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI.
The indictment alleges that Bolton illegally transmitted NDI by using personal email and messaging application accounts to send sensitive documents classified as high as Top Secret. These documents revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations.
The indictment also alleges that Bolton illegally retained NDI documents within his home. These documents included intelligence on an adversary’s leaders as well as information revealing sources and collections used to obtain statements on a foreign adversary.
If convicted, Bolton could face up to 10 years in prison for each count of unauthorized transmission of classified material.
“The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The case was based on meticulous work from dedicated career professionals at the FBI who followed the facts without fear or favor. Weaponization of justice will not be tolerated, and this FBI will stop at nothing to bring to justice anyone who threatens our national security.”
Bolton, who made his initial appearance in federal court in Maryland on Friday and pleaded not guilty, said in a statement that he is being targeted because of his opposition to President Donald Trump.
The charges, he said, are about Trump’s “intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”
To promote his book “The Room Where It Happened”, the 76-year-old Bolton made the rounds on anti-Trump news outlets attacking the president.
In writing his memoir, Bolton is accused of keeping notes, classified memos, and digital files that the National Security Council explicitly warned him to return.
Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 until his firing in September 2019.
Early on day two of his second term, Trump made clear that he would not tolerate “never-Trumpers” undermining his administration again as he announced the firings of several individuals including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Related: Lessons learned; DJT not on board with never-Trumpers clinging to their jobs this time around, January 21, 2025
FBI agents on Aug. 22 raided Bolton’s Maryland home and office in Washington, D.C.
The raids were part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records,” a person familiar with the matter told NBC News at the time.
Bolton’s lawyer is Abbe Lowell, who has represented a number of political elites including Hunter Biden.
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