Former Trump adviser John Bolton to plead guilty to retaining national security information

John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who later became one of his fiercest critics, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of retaining national security information, two sources familiar with the matter said.

As part of the agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Bolton will be arraigned again on June 26, at which point the judge will have up to 90 days to render a sentence, the sources said.

Bolton faces a potential sentence ranging from probation to 60 months in prison, the sources said. He has also agreed to pay $2.25 million in restitution, one of the sources said.

Bolton described the national security information in question in an electronic diary entry that he shared with two members of his family, the two sources said.

“So, there’s no allegation that he took home any classified documents, or that he leaked any documents or that he shared any documents with foreign adversaries,” one of the sources said.

When he was arrested in October, Bolton initially pleaded not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information. He was indicted that month by a federal grand jury in Maryland on eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of that information.

One of the sources, who is close to Bolton, told NBC News that he changed his plea for the good of the country.

“This was a very difficult decision for him,” the source said. “Most importantly, he is doing what leaders do and taking responsibility. He understands that if he went to trial what that would mean, which essentially would be the disclosure of many, many more classified documents that he would need to reveal to defend himself. And given the Ukraine and the Middle East, he didn’t want to do that.”