On October 17, 2025, John Bolton, the former national security adviser under President Donald Trump, stood before a federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, and pleaded not guilty to a sweeping 18-count indictment. The charges, which include eight counts of unlawful transmission and ten counts of unlawful retention of national defense information, have ignited fierce debate over the intersection of national security, personal rivalry, and political retribution at the highest levels of American government.
Bolton, now 76, arrived at the courthouse in a dark blue suit and maroon tie, surrendering to authorities before entering his plea. According to BBC News, he responded simply, "Not guilty, your honor," and was subsequently released on his own recognizance, with the condition that he surrender his passport to his legal counsel and refrain from traveling outside the United States without court approval. A scheduling conference is set for November 21, 2025, and pretrial motions are due by November 14.
The indictment, unsealed by a federal grand jury the previous day, accuses Bolton of sharing more than a thousand pages of classified information—some described as "diary-like entries"—with two unauthorized recipients. Prosecutors say these individuals, identified in court documents only as "Individual 1" and "Individual 2," are Bolton's wife and daughter, as reported by ABC News. The government alleges that seven of the transmissions occurred while Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser between 2018 and 2019, with an additional document sent just days after his contentious departure from the administration in September 2019.
In a statement released after his arraignment, Bolton vigorously denied any wrongdoing and characterized the charges as politically motivated. "I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he [Trump] deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts," Bolton declared, as cited by BBC News. He insisted that his actions constituted "lawful conduct," and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, added, "Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime." Lowell further argued that the records in question were "unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021."
The severity of the charges cannot be understated: each count carries the potential for up to ten years in prison, and if convicted on all counts, Bolton could theoretically spend the remainder of his life behind bars. The indictment also details that Bolton allegedly used personal messaging apps and email to transmit sensitive information, including intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations. Prosecutors maintain that these actions posed a serious threat to national security.
This indictment marks Bolton as the third prominent Trump critic to face federal charges since September 22, 2025, when Lindsey Halligan, a personal lawyer to Trump, was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan has aggressively pursued indictments against James Comey, the former FBI director, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general—both of whom have had high-profile clashes with Trump. Critics, including Bolton himself, have pointed to the timing and targets of these indictments as evidence of a campaign of retribution orchestrated by the president against his perceived adversaries.
President Trump, for his part, has not shied away from public commentary on the cases. In a recent social media post, he called for the prosecution of his political rivals, writing, "They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done." When asked directly about Bolton’s indictment during an Oval Office press event, Trump claimed ignorance of the charges but could not resist a parting shot: "Yeah, he’s a bad guy. It’s too bad. But that’s the way it goes." (Al Jazeera)
Bolton’s relationship with Trump has long been fraught. Appointed as Trump’s third national security adviser in less than two years, Bolton’s hawkish foreign policy views often clashed with the president’s impulses. Their falling out was public and bitter, culminating in Bolton’s 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, which painted an unflattering portrait of Trump as self-interested and ill-informed. The book itself became the subject of a Justice Department lawsuit, as officials sought to block its publication over concerns about classified content—a legal battle that ultimately failed but left Bolton under a cloud of suspicion.
The current indictment also references a hacking incident between 2019 and 2021, when Bolton was allegedly targeted by a "cyber actor believed to be associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran." Prosecutors suggest that this cyberattack may have exposed classified materials in Bolton’s possession. Bolton, for his part, has publicly cited ongoing threats to his safety, including an alleged assassination attempt by Iranian forces, and criticized the Trump administration for stripping him of his security detail upon returning to office in January 2025.
The investigation into Bolton’s handling of classified information has spanned multiple administrations. Federal agents searched his Maryland residence and Washington, D.C. office in August 2025, seizing computer drives and boxes of material. While the probe is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, separate from the Trump-aligned prosecutions in Virginia, its context cannot be divorced from the broader political climate. As Al Jazeera notes, Bolton’s indictment is widely viewed as part of a pattern targeting high-profile Trump critics, raising concerns about the politicization of the Justice Department.
Adding to the controversy, the indictment cites Bolton’s own public criticism of Trump officials who leaked sensitive information via the Signal messaging app—remarks now being used as evidence that Bolton was aware of proper security protocols. "I couldn’t find a way to express how stunned I was that anybody would do this," Bolton is quoted as saying. "You simply don’t use commercial means of communication, whether it’s supposedly an encrypted app or not, for these kinds of discussions."
Bolton’s defenders argue that the charges are overblown and that the materials he shared were personal reflections, not actionable intelligence. "These are diary-like entries," Lowell insisted, "shared only with his immediate family." But prosecutors maintain that even such informal records can contain highly sensitive information, and that Bolton’s actions crossed a dangerous line.
The case against Bolton comes at a time when the handling of classified information is under unprecedented scrutiny. Trump himself faced a classified documents probe, with federal agents retrieving thousands of records from his Mar-a-Lago estate—a case that was ultimately dropped under Justice Department policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. The apparent double standard has fueled partisan rancor and deepened mistrust in the legal process.
As the November court date approaches, the nation will be watching closely. The outcome of Bolton’s trial could set a precedent for how classified information cases are handled in an era of intense political polarization—and for how far presidents can go in pursuing their critics through the machinery of justice. For now, Bolton remains defiant, vowing to fight the charges and asserting, "I will defend my lawful conduct."
With the stakes as high as they come, this case stands as a stark reminder of the fragile balance between national security, personal ambition, and the rule of law in American democracy.
