Attorney and former Trump administration national security advisor John Bolton speaks with historian Garrett Graff at First Baptist Church during the 2025 Texas Tribune Festival on Nov. 13, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
By Jack Davis June 26, 2026 at 6:15am
John Bolton, who was briefly President Donald Trump’s national security adviser in his first term, will resolve charges against him with a plea deal, according to a new report.
Bolton is expected to plead guilty to one count of retaining sensitive government information, according to The Washington Post.
The deal would vastly reduce any prison time Bolton would serve if found guilty at trial.
Bolton was accused of sending “diary-like” recollections of highly secret work to various relatives who he said would help him with his memoirs.
Bolton has agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine.
🚨 JOHN BOLTON FACING PRISON TIME FOR MISHANDLING CLASSIFIED INFO!
Ex-Trump advisor expected to plead guilty today to illegal retention of classified notes compiled for his anti-Trump book.
He’s reportedly striking a deal, paying a $2 million fine, and could still face up to 5… pic.twitter.com/Zm4DMnpzvg
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 26, 2026
Should John Bolton serve prison time?
Bolton could emerge with no prison time or face up to five years behind bars. Initially charged with 18 counts, he faced a sentence of up to 10 years on each count if convicted.
Bolton served in the administrations of several Republican presidents. He worked with Trump briefly in 2019 before the two men clashed over policy. Bolton then went on to become a fierce Trump critic.
Preparation for Bolton’s 2020 book led to the charges against him. Prosecutors said he sent more than 1,000 pages of summaries of his work to relatives to prepare for the book.
A raid on Bolton’s home and office later produced documents marked as “classified” or “secret.”
Bolton has previously said his prosecution was little more than revenge and that he did nothing wrong.
Trump has called Bolton a “bad guy.”
“Too bad,” Trump said over Bolton’s October arrest. “But that’s the way it goes.”
The judge in the case will have up to 90 days to sentence Bolton, according to NBC News.
John Bolton expected to plead guilty today to retaining classified info. Plea deal includes $2.25M fine.
The man who spent years attacking everyone else over classified information just got caught by his own sloppy habits. pic.twitter.com/Ccmg5307xb
— The Last Best Hope of Earth (@TheLastHopeUSA) June 26, 2026
The outlet quoted a source as saying that under the deal “there’s no allegation that he took home any classified documents or that he leaked any documents or that he shared any documents with foreign adversaries.”
Trump has said Bolton “released massive amounts of classified and confidential but classified information.”
“That’s illegal, and you go to jail for that.”
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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues
