John Bolton will reportedly plead guilty over mishandling classified documents

Key points

• John Bolton, the former US national security adviser who left Donald Trump’s first administration and became a staunch critic of the US president, will reportedly plead guilty over mishandling classified documents.
• The US Department of Justice filed federal charges against Bolton in October 2025, one of a string of Trump critics against whom it secured criminal charges in a matter of weeks.
• Trump claimed at the time he was not aware of charges against Bolton, but that his former adviser was a “bad guy”.
• Bolton intends to plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents and has also agreed to pay a more than $2m fine, CNN was first to report on Thursday.
• AP and the New York Times also reported that Bolton had reached a provisional deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to mishandling classified information.