Mike Emanuel reports on former National Security Advisor John Bolton pleading guilty to unlawful retention of national defense information. Bolton expressed remorse for emailing over a thousand pages, including top-secret intel, to family members not authorized to receive it. Prosecutors are recommending a five-year prison sentence and a $2.25 million fine, as Bolton's emails were reportedly hacked by foreign adversaries.
President Donald Trump on Friday mocked former National Security Adviser John Bolton after his one-time aide admitted to mishandling a classified national defense document.
Bolton pleaded guilty hours earlier during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to one count of unauthorized possession of a national defense document. His guilty plea was part of a plea agreement that will see prosecutors dismiss the remaining 17 counts at sentencing. The guilty plea prompted an immediate response from Trump, who has repeatedly clashed with Bolton over foreign policy and the former adviser's highly critical memoir ever since their very public falling out in 2019.
"John Bolton, a very dumb, unbalanced, and unskilled former representative of the United States of America, just pleads guilty!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post late Friday. "He is a terrible person, a lunatic who only wanted to start trouble and wars, and who was a needless pusher of death and destruction wherever he went. Hopefully, he will be dealt with harshly!"
Bolton, 77, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28 and, under his plea agreement, faces a $2.25 million fine, up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, up to 100 hours of community service and he will lose his federal retirement pension. His defense attorneys have said that they hope Bolton will avoid jail time.
EX-TRUMP OFFICIAL JOHN BOLTON PLEADS GUILTY TO 1 OF 18 COUNTS IN CLASSIFIED DOCS INDICTMENT
According to prosecutors,
