John Bolton Pleads Not Guilty to Illegally Retaining and Sharing Classified Information

Former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded not guilty on Oct. 17 to 18 counts of illegally sharing and retaining classified information. Bolton appeared in a courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, the day after facing an indictment brought by the Trump administration. It alleged Bolton “abused his position as national security adviser 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 which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level—with two unauthorized individuals.” Bolton’s attorney Abbe Lowell told The Associated Press: “These charges stem from portions of [Ambassador] Bolton’s personal diaries over his 45-year career—records that are unclassified, shared only with his immediate family, and known to the FBI as far back as 2021....