Former National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks to reporters after speaking in a panel hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran – U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) at the Willard InterContinental Hotel on Aug. 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A federal grand jury indicted former National Security Advisor John Bolton, a one-time staffer to President Donald Trump who turned publicly against the president by the end of his first term, on charges he mishandled classified information.
The 18-count indictment in district court in Maryland accuses Bolton of wrongfully storing and sharing classified documents.
“Bolton abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor—including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level—with two unauthorized individuals,” the indictment reads.
Both unauthorized individuals were related to Bolton. One also lived, as Bolton does, in Montgomery County, Maryland.
According to the indictment, Bolton would write near-daily “diary-like” emails to the pair from a commercial email account, hosted on AOL and Google, describing his day-to-day activities as national security advisor, apparently taking them from private notes and rewriting them into a word processor, the indictment said.
The communications contained classified information that the pair was not authorized to receive, and was transmitted through web services that were not authorized to host them, according to the indictment.
And the use of a commercial email server increased the chances of a cyber attack, which eventually happened in July 2021.
A hacker believed to be associated with the government of Iran hacked Bolton’s private email, the indictment said.
“A representative for Bolton notified the U.S. Government of the hack in or about July 2021, but did not tell the U.S. Government that the account contained national defense information, including classified information,” the indictment said.
Raid on Bolton home in Maryland
FBI agents raided Bolton’s home earlier this year, leading to speculation that charges were coming.
According to the indictment, Bolton had printed out and stored much of the correspondence he had sent to relatives while in the White House.
The documents Bolton is accused of sharing were redacted from in the indictment. His misconduct is alleged from early in his time as national security advisor in April 2018 to August 2025.
After campaigning against “lawfare” — the targeting of political opponents through the legal system — Trump has encouraged prosecutions of several rivals, including Bolton.
Trump’s Justice Department has also won indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James.
Wednesday, Trump called for investigations into U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and former DOJ special prosecutor Jack Smith.
In a Thursday statement, U.S. Justice Department officials sought to rebut any accusations the investigation was politically charged.
“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the indictment was secured through “meticulous work from dedicated career professionals at the FBI who followed the facts without fear or favor. Weaponization of justice will not be tolerated, and this FBI will stop at nothing to bring to justice anyone who threatens our national security.”