Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton surrenders after indictment [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Fri 17 Oct 2025 08.42 EDT
First published on Fri 17 Oct 2025 08.36 EDT


John Bolton, the former national security adviser to Donald Trump who has since become one of the US president’s biggest Republican critics, surrendered to the authorities on Friday to face criminal charges that he mishandled classified information. He was expected to make an initial appearance in court later in the day.

The justice department filed federal charges against Bolton in federal court in Maryland on Thursday, accusing him of transmitting and retaining highly classified information under the Espionage Act.

The 18-count indictment was handed up by a grand jury in federal district court in Maryland on Thursday. Bolton has been charged with sending diary entries to two unnamed individuals about his day-to-day activities when he was national security adviser, many of which contained highly classified information.

The indictment marked the third time in recent weeks the justice department has secured criminal charges against one of Trump’s critics. In response to a question about the charges, Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was not aware of them but that Bolton was a “bad guy”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/17/john-bolton-indicted-trump