The former National Security Advisor John Bolton pled guilty Friday to one count of mishandling classified information, information which he used as part of a 2020 book that criticized President Donald Trump. Per a plea deal arranged with federal prosecutors, Bolton will pay a $2.25 million fine and could face up to five years in prison.

Bolton’s indictment followed an investigation beginning under the first Trump administration and continued under the Biden administration. He attempted to frame the Trump administration’s indictment as an attempt to “intimidate his opponents.”

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The October 2025 indictment charged him on 18 counts for sharing over 1,000 pages of notes he took related to classified national defense information with relatives, information he would use as a part of his 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened. 

Bolton pled “not guilty” in October following the indictment, but reports earlier this month revealed a rearraignment that suggested he would be altering his plea.

Bolton is slated to be sentenced on October 28.