John Bolton faces up to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to mishandling classified information
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Prime Day ends tonight! Score these last-minute deals PoliticsJohn Bolton faces up to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to mishandling classified information
By Josh Christenson and Samuel Chamberlain Published June 26, 2026 Updated June 26, 2026, 11:24 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleGREENBELT, Md. — President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to a single count of hoarding national defense information while working in the White House, leaving the 77-year-old facing up to five years in federal prison.
Bolton, an Iran hawk and former US ambassador to the United Nations, copped to the charge during a brief hearing in federal court just outside Washington, responding to US District Judge Theodore Chuang’s inquiry about whether he was guilty: “I am, Your Honor, and sorry for it.”
The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, but US Attorney Kelly Hayes clarified to reporters following the hearing that the Justice Department was asking for a five-year sentence as part of a plea agreement that will also force Bolton to pay a $2.25 million fine.
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Sentencing was set for Oct. 28, with Chuang noting that Bolton would not be eligible for parole before releasing him.
Prosecutor Tanner Kroger said that Bolton shared “more than 1,000 pages” of classified information “in the form of diaries with two family members” — believed to be his wife and daughter — in anticipation of a memoir he would be paid a $1.5 million advance to write.
That information was transmitted between the personal email accounts of Bolton and his relatives, and stored digitally. The notes also existed in handwritten form based on jottings from his 17 months in the Trump White House.
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While holding a top-secret security clearance between April 2018 and September 2019, Bolton also transmitted eight documents over his private email.
Seven of those were determined to be classified at the “top secret” level, the highest under the US government’s national security system.
The longtime GOP foreign policy figure was indicted by a federal grand jury this past October on 18 counts of illegally hoarding or sending sensitive information, raising the prospect that Bolton would spend the rest of his life behind bars after his Maryland home and DC office were raided by federal investigators on Aug. 22, 2025.
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Among the items recovered were documents about weapons of mass destruction, internal government communications about strategy, secret travel memos, and the US mission to the UN.
The diaries were exposed in July 2021 after Bolton’s AOL account was infiltrated by Iranian-linked hackers, Kroger and Bolton affirmed Friday.
Bolton subsequently told federal agents of the hack, but not that it compromised some national security information, according to Kroger.
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Bolton has faced constant security threats from Iran since the January 2020 killing of notorious military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Friday’s guilty plea by Bolton wraps up a long-running investigation that began near the end of Trump’s first term and that FBI sources previously told The Post was mysteriously “shelved” during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
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In 2020, Bolton faced a separate investigation into his handling of classified information surrounding the publication of his best-selling White House memoir, “The Room Where it Happened.”
The Trump administration asserted that Bolton’s manuscript could harm national security if published. Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer contained classified information.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, had argued that many of the documents seized by the feds in August had been approved as part of a pre-publication review for “The Room Where It Happened,” were decades old and dated from his client’s long career in government.
Notably, Kroger confirmed Friday that no classified information was published in the book that related to the October indictment.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
