President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
Bolton, who is a sharp critic of the president, appeared in Maryland court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
He is the third high-profile person in recent weeks to be indicted by the Trump administration after former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
He was indicted in federal court in Maryland, where he lives. Investigators have been examining whether Bolton mishandled classified information upon his departure from the Trump administration in 2019.
In August, the FBI raided his home in Maryland, after the president revoked Bolton’s security detail. Trump at the time said he didn’t know about the raid. Bolton was not home at the time of the FBI’s raid.
In court documents Thursday, prosecutors allege Bolton had access to “some of the U.S. Government’s most sensitive and closely guarded national security secrets.”
The indictment said the Trump administration installed a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility in Bolton’s home, which was approved to process and store classified and top secret behavior. It was “decertified” when Bolton left the administration.
The administration alleges that from August 2018 to August 2025, Bolton abused his position by “sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Adviser — including information relating to the national defense.” He is accused of sharing the information with two unnamed individuals that are noted as people he is related to.
Bolton unlawfully kept documents, writing and notes related to national defense, including top secret level information, in his Maryland home, the indictment said.
He regularly sent “diary-like entries” to the individuals, including transcribing his “handwritten notes from his day’s activities,” using his AOL and Google email accounts.
Trump reacted to Bolton’s indictment at an event in the Oval Office on Thursday and said he was just now hearing about it.
“I think he’s a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy,” Trump said. “That’s the way it goes.”
Trump said he hasn’t reviewed the case against Bolton but just believes he is a “bad person.”
Bolton later released a statement about his indictment, arguing he would “never compromise” the four decades he’s dedicated to America’s foreign policy and national security.
“I have become the latest target in weaponiziing the Justice Department to change those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts,” Bolton said.
Bolton likened Trump’s second term to Joseph Stalin and said the charges are not about him as an individual but rather an effort to intimidate Trump’s opponents.
“Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom,” Bolton wrote. “I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power.”
Bolton is the third Trump critic in recent weeks to be indicted.
Comey, the former FBI director nominated by former President Barack Obama and later dismissed by Trump in 2017, was indicted for allegedly making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of justice. Comey has long tangled with Trump over his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian interference, as well as an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email use.
In addition to Comey, James was indicted last week. She was indicted on two counts involving a property she owns in Virginia, including bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution. Prosecutors say she misrepresented how she uses the property in order to obtain a more favorable loan.