John Bolton, the former National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump, has reportedly agreed to a plea deal over the mishandling of classified national security information.
Bolton is set to plead guilty to a single felony count of illegal retention of sensitive national security information and will pay a fine exceeding $2 million, reported CNN on Thursday. A conviction for illegal retention carries a potential prison sentence of zero to five years, with the hearing scheduled for June 26.
The plea deal comes in the wake of charges filed against Bolton by Maryland prosecutors for allegedly retaining personal diary entries from his tenure in Trump's first administration at his residence. These entries, reportedly over a thousand pages, contained information about his daily activities, which he allegedly shared with two unauthorized individuals via his personal email account.
Bolton was initially charged with eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of retaining national defense information. He pleaded not guilty last year to 18 criminal charges, including transmitting and retaining national defense information.
However, the charges he plans to plead guilty to this year do not include the alleged transmission of classified information. His guilty plea will only cover the charge that he recorded sensitive national security information in his personal papers, as per the report.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
