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GREENBELT, Md. (CN) — A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted former national security adviser John Bolton Thursday over his apparent mishandling of classified documents.
Jurors approved an 18-count indictment — eight counts of transmission of national defense information, and another 10 courts of retention of national defense information — based on Bolton’s reported sharing of more than a thousand pages of classified information, including top secret documents, with two individuals between April 9, 2018 and Aug. 22, 2025.
Bolton, who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump after working in the White House between April 9, 2018 and Sept. 10, 2019, is now the third adversary of the president to be charged in federal court, following former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James beginning last month.
According to prosecutors in the 26-page indictment, after Bolton left his position in the White House, he failed to inform government personnel that he had sent national defense and classified information to the two unnamed individuals over unsecured email and messaging services, or that such information was stored on personal devices belonging to him and the two others.
At some point between September 2019 and July 2021, Bolton’s personal email was hacked by Iran, according to prosecutors, who gained access to the classified and national defense information in the account.
On July 6, 2021, a representative for Bolton notified the FBI about the hack, but reportedly did not say the account contained classified information or that Bolton had shared the information.
On July 25, the hacker emailed Bolton a threatening message, referencing his then-recently published memoir, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," warning that if he did not cooperate, the hacker would “disseminate the expurgated sections” of the book.
“This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary’s emails were leaked, but this time on the GOP side! Contact me before it’s too late,” the hacker purportedly told Bolton.
The indictment does not detail the results of Bolton’s extortion.
Bolton had submitted drafts of the book to the National Security Council to review for any classified information, which concluded that his initial draft contained “significant amounts of highly classified information” that Bolton removed before publication.
In late 2020, the Trump administration sued Bolton to block publication of his book, but Bolton reached a settlement with former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department in June 2021, in which he agreed to provide all the materials in his possession, including drafts of his book, that may contain classified information.
Abbe Lowell, of Lowell Associates and representing Bolton, said in a statement that the facts in the case were already investigated and resolved years prior.
“These charges stem from portions of Ambassador Bolton’s personal diary over his 45-year career — records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021.” Lowell said. “Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept diary — that is not a crime. We look forward to proving once again that Ambassador Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”
Bolton served as Ambassador to the United Nations for just over a year in 2005-2006 under former President George W. Bush.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Bolton’s indictment shows “no one is above the law.”
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Bondi said. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable.”
FBI Director Kash Patel lauded the FBI investigation of Bolton in a statement Thursday.
“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,” Patel wrote. “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’s case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, a Barack Obama appointee who ruled in March that the Department of Governmental Efficiency’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development was illegal. Bolton is expected to make an initial court appearance Friday.
The indictment makes a stark change from those of Comey and James, which were two and five pages, respectively, and contained the bare minimum amount of information on their supposed crimes.
The case also appears to have the support of career prosecutors — unlike Comey and James’ cases, which required the installment of former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan to obtain — with the charges obtained by veteran national security prosecutor Thomas Sullivan and endorsed by Kelly O. Hayes, who Trump tapped for Maryland’s top prosecutor in February.
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