Overview
- Multiple news outlets reported Thursday that Bolton reached a tentative deal to plead guilty to one felony count of illegal retention of national defense information.
- Under the reported agreement Bolton would pay about $2.25 million and face a statutory sentence of zero to five years in prison for the retained‑information count.
- Bolton is scheduled to formally enter the plea at a rearraignment on June 26, after which a federal judge may take up to 90 days to set his sentence.
- Prosecutors say the charge centers on diary‑style electronic entries from Bolton’s time as national security adviser that he shared with two family members and that FBI searches in August 2025 seized documents labeled classified.
- The case was brought by Maryland federal prosecutors with career staff involved, and sources say Bolton accepted the deal in part to avoid a trial that could require further classified disclosures in court.