ISTANBUL
John Bolton, the former national security adviser to US President Donald Trump, is expected to plead guilty to mishandling classified documents, several US media outlets reported Thursday.
Bolton intends to plead guilty to one felony count of illegally retaining sensitive national security documents in a plea deal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Under federal law, a conviction on the charge can result in a prison sentence of up to five years. The anticipated plea deal reportedly includes a fine of more than $2 million.
The legal development follows allegations that Bolton kept diary entries containing top-secret information at his Maryland residence after leaving the White House in 2019, during Trump’s first term in office.
While prosecutors previously accused him of sharing over 1,000 pages of classified daily activity logs with unauthorized family members via his personal email, those specific allegations are reportedly not included in the expected plea.
Media outlets said the Justice Department declined to comment. Bolton did not immediately comment on the reports.
The case intensified last October after an FBI raid on Bolton’s home resulted in the seizure of digital devices and various documents.
While the former advisor, now a critic of the Trump administration, previously claimed that the charges were part of “intimidation tactics” used by the administration against political foes, the Justice Department has scheduled a hearing for June 26.
Bolton, in October, pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally shared classified information with relatives and stored top secret documents at his Maryland home.
