John Bolton expected to plead guilty in classified documents case, sources confirm

John Bolton, a onetime national security advisor to Donald Trump who evolved into one of his most prominent critics, has reached a deal to plead guilty in his federal classified documents case, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Federal prosecutors indicted Bolton last year on 18 counts related to improper handling of classified material. Bolton initially pleaded not guilty.

He will plead guilty to one count of retention of national defence information and will pay a $2.25m fine, both people said, requesting anonymity to discuss the not-yet-public deal.

Bolton is expected to enter his plea at a re-arraignment hearing on 26 June.

A spokesman for the US attorney's office in Maryland, the division handling the case, noted the hearing date to the BBC but did not comment further. The justice department declined to comment.

The agreement would have to be approved by a judge before being finalized.

The plea deal also recommends no jail time, according to one person familiar with the agreement, but it would fall to a judge at a separate sentencing hearing to decide a sentence.

The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 60 months in prison.

The justice department charged Bolton last October, accusing him of putting the public at risk by allegedly mishandling classified documents, some designated as top secret or sensitive compartmented information, during and after his stint as Trump's national security advisor between April 2018 and September 2019.

Some of those documents related to "diary-like" entries from his time as national security advisor, which contained national defence information classified up to the top secret level, the indictment alleged. Bolton was accused of transmitting some of these materials to two relatives, as he wrote his book about his time as national security advisor.

The single charge to which Bolton will plead guilty relates to the diary-like entries, the individuals familiar with his plea deal told the BBC.

Bolton's indictment came on the heels of other high profile criminal cases brought against Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bolton has spoken critically of Trump since leaving his first administration, and wrote a book that contained criticism of the president. Trump has suggested that Bolton should go to jail.

But former federal prosecutors and other legal experts told the BBC that Bolton's case stood apart from prosecution of other Trump critics due to the evidence gathered by prosecutors.

"The ambassador has admitted to what he has done," one of the people familiar with Bolton's plea deal told the BBC.

Bolton also understood that if he continued to fight the case, "other classified information might have been released in his defence" and he did not want to "damage" the United States, the person said.

"Unlike others, he's stood up and said he takes responsibility," the person added.