Trump official-turned-foe John Bolton accepts plea deal in documents case

Despite serving as Trump’s national security adviser, Bolton has emerged as a top critic of the president.

John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, is set to accept a plea deal in a case related to the handling of classified documents, according to media in the United States.

Bolton — now a prominent Trump critic — reportedly intends to plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents and has agreed to pay a fine of more than $2m.

CNN first reported the story on Thursday. Al Jazeera could not immediately confirm the details.

The former Trump official-turned-foe was indicted by the Department of Justice in October.

He was one of several Trump critics to be charged by the federal law enforcement agency, and his indictment was revealed about the same time as charging documents for former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bolton was charged under the Espionage Act with 18 counts related to his alleged mishandling and sharing of classified information.

Investigators said that Bolton had sent over 1,000 pages of “diary-like entries” to two of his relatives, some of which contained material classified as “top secret”.

It was further charged that Bolton did not provide full details regarding a cyberattack that involved the hacking of his personal email account, which could have revealed classified information.

Bolton maintained that he had fully notified the FBI of the breach. He also pointed out that charges had never been filed against him before Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, despite reviews of the incident.

He had pleaded not guilty when he was first arraigned on October 17, 2025.

A longtime foreign policy hawk, Bolton was a major supporter of the US invasion of Iraq during his time as ambassador to the United Nations under George W Bush.

Critics note Bolton amplified disproven claims that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and had links to al-Qaeda.

He also served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, in a tenure marked by repeated clashes with the first-term president.

Bolton’s scathing 2020 memoir detailed his time in Trump’s White House, portraying the president as being unfit for office, lacking basic knowledge of geography and world affairs.

Trump has repeatedly charged that the book contained classified information. He also sought to block the book’s release, arguing for years that Bolton should be arrested for its content.

Despite being a longtime advocate for