Trump's Former National Adviser-Turned-Critic John Bolton Indicted For Sharing Classified Information

Last Updated:October 17, 2025, 02:54 IST

John Bolton, former US national security adviser and Trump critic, was indicted in Maryland for allegedly mishandling classified information, including top secret documents.

Former US NSA John Bolton. (Image: AP/File)

US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser who later turned critic, John Bolton, was on Thursday indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland.

Bolton, who has been under investigation for alleged unlawful handling of classified information, has become the third high-profile Trump political enemy to be indicted in less than a month.

According to court records, the agents had seized multiple documents labeled “secret," “confidential," and “classified," including some about weapons of mass destruction.

Bolton will likely self-surrender on Friday.

According to CNN, Bolton is charged with 18 counts of retaining and sharing classified information related to national defense in the years following his firing from the Trump administration in 2019 and up through this year.

“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," said FBI Director Kash Patel.

As per the indictment, Bolton shared “more than a thousand pages" of “diary-like entries" during his time as Trump’s national security adviser, “that contained information classified up to the TOP SECRET" level.

“On other occasions, Bolton used his personal non-governmental email accounts, such as email accounts hosted by AOL and Google, to email information classified" to the individual’s personal email accounts, it further stated.

The prosecutors said that those entries were printed and remained on personal devices used by Bolton and others in his home.

Meanwhile, President Trump said: “I didn’t know that—you’re telling for the first time, but I think he’s, you know, 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, right?"

He added that he hasn’t reviewed the case against Bolton.

News world Trump's Former National Adviser-Turned-Critic John Bolton Indicted For Sharing Classified Information

Read More