{"id":717,"date":"2026-06-26T17:39:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=717"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:39:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:39:55","slug":"trump-critic-john-bolton-pleads-guilty-to-mishandling-classified-info","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=717","title":{"rendered":"Trump Critic John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Info"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who became one of the president\u2019s most prominent critics, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of mishandling classified information.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=715\">Graham Platner\u2019s Next Hurdle: Winning Moderates<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Appearing in federal court in Maryland, Bolton admitted to retaining classified information and sharing it with two relatives as he was working on a book about his time in the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>Asked by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang if he was guilty of the charge, Bolton responded, \u201cI am, your honor, and I\u2019m sorry for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bolton could face five years in prison and three years of supervised release under the plea agreement. The judge will determine his sentence at a hearing scheduled for late October.<\/p>\n<p>Bolton also agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine, with half due within five days of sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>The deal also includes a provision requiring Bolton to debrief members of the intelligence community and Justice Department on conduct related to the offense. Bolton further agreed to provide the government up to 100 hours of community service to help officials address issues related \u201cto the improper disclosure, handling, and retention of classified information by public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The plea is a key victory for Trump, who, since returning to office, has used the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute several of his political foes and critics. Most of those cases have sputtered.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=713\">How a Rock-Bottom Moment Propelled the Mystics to New Heights<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bolton\u2019s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that Bolton, a former United Nations ambassador, had taken responsibility for his \u201cmistake.\u201d Lowell also criticized Trump, who was charged with mishandling classified documents after his first term as president in a case that a federal judge later threw out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, Ambassador Bolton did what real leaders do,\u201d he said. \u201cAmbassador Bolton, whose offense was only keeping a diary which contained classified information, kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bolton had pleaded not guilty in the case, which centered on what prosecutors called \u201cdiary-like\u201d entries he kept from the first Trump administration in his home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>The initial indictment included 18 counts and accused Bolton of using a private messaging app and email to share with two family members more than 1,000 pages of information, some of it top secret, about his day-to-day activities as national security adviser.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes said Bolton had put national security at \u201cgrave risk\u201d through his actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Bolton knew how to handle classified information, where it should be stored, how it should be stored, and with whom he could share that information,\u201d she told reporters Friday. \u201cHe also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=711\">D.C. Rental Hosts Are Cashing In on July Fourth<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The charge stems from a book the former national security adviser wrote about working in the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump Critic John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Info - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=717\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Critic John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Info - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The charge stems from a book the former national security adviser wrote about working in the first Trump administration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=717\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T17:39:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Critic John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Info\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T17:39:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717\"},\"wordCount\":495,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0eb487f3117dbd336a069eb5614538fc-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717\",\"name\":\"Trump Critic John Bolton Pleads Guilty to Mishandling Classified Info - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0eb487f3117dbd336a069eb5614538fc-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T17:39:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=717#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0eb487f3117dbd336a069eb5614538fc-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0eb487f3117dbd336a069eb5614538fc-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Former national security adviser John Bolton waves as he arrives at his house Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. 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