Ex Trump advisor pleads guilty to retaining defense information

Former White House national security advisor John Bolton, who served during President Donald Trump's first term, pleaded guilty on Friday for unauthorized retention of national defense information, reported Xinhua.

Bolton appeared before Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.

Bolton, who served as U.S. national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, was indicted in October 2025 by a grand jury on eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information.

Last year, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants at Bolton's residence in Maryland and his office in Washington, D.C., seizing numerous documents marked "classified," "secret" and "confidential," according to court records.

Bolton will face a prison sentence of up to five years and has agreed to pay 2.25 million U.S. dollars, according to a report by NBC News. He is set to be sentenced on Oct. 28.