Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who repeatedly insisted that whistleblowers violating the Espionage Act should face execution, has pleaded guilty to violating that law.
The 77-year-old neoconservative warmonger will avoid prison time but must pay a $2.25 million fine and complete 100 hours of community service. He faces up to five years in federal prison.
Bolton, who served as President Trump’s national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, was indicted on October 16 by a federal grand jury for illegally transmitting and retaining classified information. The indictment states that from April 9, 2018, through at least August 22, 2025, Bolton shared more than 1,000 pages of classified national defense documents—ranging up to TOP SECRET/SCI level—with his wife and daughter, neither of whom had security clearances.
The documents included diary-like entries that Bolton transcribed from handwritten notes into electronic files and emailed through non-governmental messaging services using personal AOL and Google accounts. The indictment also alleges that a cyber actor linked to Iran hacked Bolton’s email account after he had previously emailed classified material to his family. Despite reporting the hack, Bolton did not disclose that the account contained classified secrets or that he used a non-governmental service.
Bolton collected this information for his memoir The Room Where It Happened, which led then Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to revoke his security clearance. The Justice Department reported that Bolton pleaded guilty to one count, resolving all 18 counts. His sentencing is scheduled for October 28 before U.S. District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang.
Bolton has repeatedly called for the execution of whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. In a statement, he claimed Snowden “committed treason” and should be punished by hanging, while also asserting that Chelsea Manning deserved to be executed after his 2013 conviction under the Espionage Act.
Bolton, known for his aggressive foreign policy stances, has advocated for military action against Cuba and North Korea. In his book Surrender Is Not An Option, Bolton explained his decision not to serve in Vietnam: “I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy. I considered the war in Vietnam already lost.”
Almost 10,000 Americans died in Vietnam from 1970 through April 30, 1975.
