Former National Security Adviser John Bolton was indicted Thursday on 18 charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The 76-year-old, whose longtime career includes serving under presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, was charged with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“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,” FBI Director Kash Patel in a DOJ statement. “The case was based on meticulous work from dedicated career professionals at the FBI who followed the facts without fear or favor.”
Bolton was expected to turn himself in at federal court in Greenbelt, Md., as early as Friday, with his case overseen by Judge Theodore D. Chuang, a 2014 appointee of President Barack Obama, CNN reported.
Bolton, a prominent foreign policy hawk who has slammed Trump as unfit, had previously been identified in court documents as the target of a federal investigation into his handling of classified information.
Federal agents seized documents labeled “classified,” “confidential” and “secret” during raids in August of Bolton’s Maryland home and his Washington, D.C. office, according to court filings.
Justice Department officials had been pushing for charges against Bolton as the White House pursues a campaign of retribution against Trump’s political rivals and critics.
The Espionage Act makes it a crime to remove, retain or transmit national defense records.
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Bolton, has said the documents seized from Bolton didn’t indicate any wrongdoing and that many are decades old dating from his days in the State Department and as ambassador to the UN.
“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by (Bolton),” Lowell said.
Bolton served for 17 months as national security adviser during Trump’s first term, clashing with him over Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea before being ousted in 2019.
He later established himself as a fierce critic of Trump and penned a 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” that portrayed his ex-boss as woefully ill-informed.
Bolton’s attorney said that many of the documents seized in August were approved as part of a pre-publication review for the book.
Bolton is the latest of Trump’s political adversaries to find themselves in the crosshairs of federal investigators since the president returned to power in January.
Federal prosecutors recently indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey on charges that legal analysts say are flimsy.
Trump has also called for charges to be filed against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who spearheaded the first impeachment of Trump in his first term.
Trump himself was indicted in 2023 on Espionage Act violations for allegedly stashing boxes of classified documents at his Florida resort home after losing the 2020 election and defying government demands to return them. The case was dropped after Trump won reelection in November.
With News Wire Services
Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM EDT
