Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton is expected to plead guilty to retaining classified information, according to two sources who spoke to Fox News Digital. Authorities conducted a raid on Bolton's home and office in August 2025, leading to his indictment in October on charges of both transmission and retention of classified information.
Bolton is anticipated to accept a plea deal, pleading guilty to a single count of retention of classified information, which could result in a sentence of up to 60 months in prison and a fine of up to $2.25 million. The indictment alleges that from April 9, 2018, to August 22, 2025, Bolton shared over a thousand pages of classified information with unauthorized individuals and unlawfully retained classified documents in his home in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The documents reportedly contained sensitive intelligence regarding future attacks by an adversarial group, a liaison partner sharing information with the U.S. intelligence community, and plans for a missile launch by a foreign adversary. FBI Director Kash Patel stated that Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained these documents in violation of federal law. Bolton served as National Security Advisor during President Trump's first administration from 2018 to 2019. A source indicated that CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided limited access to U.S. intelligence, which justified the search warrant for the raid on Bolton's home.