Former U.S. National Security Advisor and notoriously unrepentant war hawk John Bolton was indicted on Thursday, by a federal grand jury in Maryland on 18 counts related to the mishandling of classified information, including eight counts of transmitting national defense information and ten counts of retaining such information, all under the Espionage Act.
The charges stem from his alleged use of personal email accounts and a messaging app to send over a thousand pages of diary-like notes detailing his day-to-day activities as national security adviser to President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2019, many of which contained information classified as top secret or sensitive compartmented information.
Bolton, is accused of sharing this material with two family members who lacked security clearances, and of retaining classified documents at his home in Montgomery County, Maryland, which were seized during an FBI raid in August 2025.
The indictment alleges that Bolton used personal accounts, including AOL and Google email, to transmit classified information, such as intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and covert actions, to individuals without authorization.
The investigation, initially dropped by the Biden administration in 2021, was reopened after the CIA and FBI learned of potential foreign espionage involving Bolton’s emails, with Iran suspected as the source of a hack on his AOL account.
FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and office in August 2025, seizing multiple devices, printed documents, and a white binder labeled "Statements and Reflections to Allied Strikes..." along with four boxes of printed daily activities.
Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, stated that the materials in question were unclassified personal diaries shared only with family and that the FBI had been aware of them since 2021, denying any wrongdoing.
Bolton’s 2020 memoir, 'The Room Where It Happened,' which detailed his time in the Trump administration, is believed to have been based on these notes and alarmed national security officials, leading to a prior lawsuit to delay its release.
The case is assigned to Judge Theodore D. Chuang, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, and Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities soon. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.
President Trump responded to the indictment by calling Bolton a “bad guy,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that no one is above the law and that anyone jeopardizing national security will be held accountable.
As Trump answered questions on prescription drugs in the Oval Office on Thursday, a reporter informed him that Bolton, had just been indicted by a grand jury. “John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. Do you have a reaction to that?” the reporter asked.
“I did not know that, you are telling me for the first time, but I think — he’s a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy, yeah. He’s a bad guy. Too bad. But that’s the way it goes. That’s the way it goes, right? That’s the way it goes,” Trump said.
The reporter then asked, “Have you reviewed the case against him?”
“No I haven’t, I haven’t,” the president answered. “But I just think he’s a bad person.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement, “The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law.”
Bolton is the third corrupt Democrat official to be indicted. Those indicted so far are former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Discredited left-wing Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and special prosecutor Jack Smith were also among Democrat officials who led an aggressive political and legal witch hunt against Trump.
