2026-06-26T10:00:26.911Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/politics/john-bolton-plead-guilty
随着针对总统唐纳德·特朗普政敌的多起刑事调查接连受挫，联邦检察官如今正推动将特朗普最严厉的批评者之一定罪。
特朗普前国家安全顾问约翰·博尔顿已同意周五就其非法留存敏感国家安全信息的指控认罪——这是司法部在起诉总统政治对手名单上罕见的一次胜诉。
尽管多名美国检察官曾试图针对特朗普厌恶的知名政治人士立案，但博尔顿的认罪协议是由马里兰州一位低调却高效的职业检察官凯利·海耶斯促成的。海耶斯自特朗普去年就职后不久便担任美国检察官一职。
“所有人都惊喜地发现她还在任上，”一位熟悉该办公室的人士本周表示，“在某些方面，她一直试图低调行事……许多美国检察官办公室都曾试图吸引白宫的注意。”
与针对特朗普其他政治对手的案件不同，比如前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米的案件，博尔顿的案件得到了职业检察官和调查人员的支持。
消息人士告诉CNN，博尔顿的认罪协议中，他承认向妻子和女儿分享了敏感国家安全信息，仅构成一项重罪，可能导致入狱。该项指控的最高刑期为五年。
消息人士还透露，博尔顿还同意支付超过200万美元的罚款。这笔罚款可能会追回博尔顿2020年出售回忆录所得的大部分收入，该书对特朗普持严厉批评态度，也曾招致总统公开抨击。
多位熟悉此案及该办公室的消息人士告诉CNN，与特朗普授意下其他面临联邦指控人士的起诉和调查相比，马里兰州美国检察官凯利·海耶斯的办案方式以及博尔顿案本身受到更严肃的看待。
海耶斯此前也曾面临来自华盛顿方面的压力，要求其调查加利福尼亚州参议员亚当·希夫，后者尚未受到任何指控。据熟悉此事的人士透露，该办公室的助理美国检察官曾仔细研究过以抵押贷款申请相关罪名起诉这位参议员的可能性，并向司法部领导层解释了他们的顾虑。希夫多次否认有任何不当行为。
熟悉该办公室的人士表示，海耶斯大体上通过避开特朗普时代的政治聚光灯，摆脱了政治压力，并与司法部领导层保持了良好关系。
最终，博尔顿预计只会承认联邦执法部门调查内容中的一小部分。认罪协议仅聚焦于他被指控发送给妻子和女儿的信息。
起诉书指控他犯下18项违法行为——8项传输国防信息罪和10项非法留存信息罪。而他的认罪协议将罪名缩减为一项非法留存国防信息罪。
博尔顿的案件如果进入审判，可能会将大量机密信息公之于众。
一位熟悉博尔顿想法的人士表示，他决定认罪的部分原因是希望避免审判，尤其是一场可能曝光敏感信息的审判。
博尔顿在去年10月被指控后发表评论时，将自己的起诉比作约瑟夫·斯大林秘密警察的恐怖暴行，并声称自己是“司法部政治工具化的最新目标”。
然而，自去年秋季指控公布以来，即便在司法部的批评者眼中，此案也被视为一项合法的起诉决定。
马里兰州格林贝尔特的西奥多·庄法官将主持周五的认罪听证会，并可能在后续日期最终宣判博尔顿。
熟悉此案的人士表示，预计博尔顿将主张免于监禁，而司法部可能会寻求判处其监禁，这将在量刑阶段引发重大对峙。
司法部发言人周四表示，博尔顿承认一项刑事指控的协议“是常规操作……符合司法部当前的指控和认罪政策”。
该发言人补充道，博尔顿最终未被纳入指控的行为，可能会被纳入法官在量刑时考量的行为范畴。
博尔顿被指控在自己留存“档案”期间，向自己和直系亲属发送包含机密信息的摘要和笔记，当时他对特朗普的领导感到不满。总统最终于2019年9月将博尔顿解雇。
根据起诉书，这位前国家安全顾问曾与妻子和女儿详细讨论这些笔记，仿佛她们是编辑。
随后博尔顿的电子邮件账户被伊朗黑客入侵。根据法庭文件，2021年，他的助手向联邦调查局报案，称黑客威胁要曝光敏感政府信息。
“祝你好运，大胡子先生！”一位描述调查文件的人士援引其中一条信息说道。
联邦调查局以及马里兰州和司法部总部的国家安全律师于2022年拜登政府执政期间正式展开调查。
根据起诉书，调查人员很快发现了他发送给自己的类似日记的条目——本质上是他在特朗普白宫任职期间所了解的机密信息的个人笔记。
去年夏天，调查人员搜查了他在马里兰州的住所和华盛顿特区的办公室，案件取得重大进展。
但他们查获的并非所有内容都与刑事指控相关。
例如，调查人员从博尔顿的办公室找回了几份他们认为属于机密或保密性质的文件。其中包括与美国驻联合国代表团相关的计划和备忘录、2000-2001年总统过渡期的外交安全记录，以及标题显示涉及大规模杀伤性武器的档案。博尔顿在布什政府期间曾在国务院任职，并担任美国驻联合国大使。
这些陈年记录从未被纳入博尔顿面临的指控。
调查博尔顿的另一部分关键内容围绕他如何出版关于在特朗普白宫任职经历的回忆录展开，该书未经过特朗普政府的全面预出版审批流程。
最终，书中并未包含任何机密信息。
博尔顿预出版审查员艾伦·奈特的律师迈克尔·布罗米奇本周告诉CNN：“博尔顿在预出版审查流程中表现得光荣且合法。真正需要他承认的是他在该流程之外处理机密信息的行为……那是草率且非法的，但并非别有用心。”
Trump foe John Bolton is set to plead guilty. Here’s why the case didn’t fall apart
2026-06-26T10:00:26.911Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/politics/john-bolton-plead-guilty
As several criminal investigations into President Donald Trump’s foes continue to flail, federal prosecutors are now ushering one of his biggest critics to a conviction.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty Friday to charges that he unlawfully retained sensitive national security information — marking a rare win in the Justice Department’s list of prosecutions against the president’s political enemies.
While several US attorneys have attempted to stand up cases against well-known political figures that Trump dislikes, the Bolton plea deal was secured by an understated but effective career prosecutor in Maryland, Kelly Hayes, who has been serving as US attorney since shortly after Trump took office last year.
“Everybody’s pleasantly surprised she’s still in the job,” one person who knows the office well said this week. “In some ways, she’s been trying to keep her head down … A lot of US attorney’s Offices tried to attract attention” of the White House.
Unlike cases against Trump’s other political enemies, like former FBI Director James Comey, Bolton’s case maintained support of career prosecutors and investigators.
Bolton’s plea deal — in which he admits to sharing sensitive national security information with his wife and daughter — amounts to one felony count that could result in prison time. The maximum sentence for the charge is five years.
Bolton has also agreed to pay a fine of a more than $2 million, sources told CNN. That fine amount could claw back much of the money Bolton earned from the sale of his memoir in 2020, which was deeply critical of Trump and which prompted the president to attack him publicly.
Maryland US Attorney Kelly Hayes’ approach, and the Bolton case itself, are viewed more seriously than the indictments and investigations of others who have faced federal charges at Trump’s urging, several sources familiar with the case and the office have told CNN.
Hayes also previously faced some pressure out of Washington, DC, to investigate California Sen. Adam Schiff, who hasn’t been charged with any crime. Assistant US attorneys in the office looked closely at the possibility of charging the senator related to his mortgage applications, and explained their hesitations to Justice Department leadership, people familiar with it told CNN. Schiff has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Hayes was able to remove herself from political pressure, largely by staying out of the political limelight of the Trump era, and maintained relationships with Justice Department leaders, people familiar with the office say.
Bolton, in the end, is expected to admit to only a sliver of what federal law enforcement investigated. The plea agreement is narrowly focused on the information he is accused of sending to his wife and daughter.
The indictment accused him of 18 violations – eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 instances of illegal retention. His plea agreement will cut that down to one count of illegally retaining national defense information.
Bolton’s case, had it gone to trial, could have dragged significant classified information into the public eye.
Part of his decision to plead guilty was driven by a wish to avoid a trial — specifically one that had the potential to publicize sensitive information, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
In comments Bolton made after he was charged in October, he likened his prosecution to the horrific abuses of Joseph Stalin’s secret police and claimed he was “the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department.”
Yet since the charges were unveiled last fall, the case has been viewed — even by critics of the Justice Department — as a legitimate prosecution decision.
Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, will oversee his plea hearing on Friday and will likely ultimately sentence Bolton at a later date.
It’s expected that Bolton will advocate for no prison time, and the Justice Department may seek to jail him, setting up a major showdown at the sentencing, people familiar with the case say.
A Justice Department spokesperson on Thursday said that Bolton’s deal to plead guilty to a single criminal charge “is a common practice … and is in line with current DOJ charging and pleading policy.”
The spokesperson added that Bolton’s behavior that isn’t ultimately part of the charge on the books may be factored into conduct the judge reviews at his sentencing.
Bolton was accused of sending summaries and notes that included classified information to himself and to his immediate family at a time where he was keeping his own “archives,” and was frustrated by Trump’s leadership. The president ultimately fired Bolton in September 2019.
The former national security adviser discussed the notes extensively with his wife and daughter, as if they were editors, according to the indictment.
Then Bolton’s email account was hacked by Iranians. In 2021, his assistant reported it to the FBI, saying the hacker was threatening to expose sensitive government information, according to court filings.
“Good luck Mr. Mustache!” one message said, according to a person who described investigative documents.
The FBI and national security lawyers in Maryland and Justice Department headquarters formally opened an investigation in 2022 during the Biden administration.
Investigators soon discovered the diary-like entries he was sending himself — essentially his own notes on secret information he was learning during his time in the Trump White House, according to the indictment.
The case moved forward substantially last summer when investigators searched both his home in Maryland and his office in Washington, DC.
But not all of what they found played into the criminal allegations.
For instance, investigators recovered several documents from Bolton’s office that they believed could be classified or confidential. Those included plans and memos related to the US mission to the United Nations and diplomatic security during the 2000-2001 presidential transition, and records with headings that indicated they were about weapons of mass destruction. Bolton was in the State Department and was UN ambassador during the Bush administration.
The years-old records never became part of the case that Bolton faced.
Another part of the investigation into Bolton hinged on how he published his memoir of his time in the Trump White House, after a comprehensive review process where the Trump administration hadn’t given him the final approval to publish.
Ultimately, no classified information was included in the book.
“Bolton acquitted himself honorably and legally in the pre-publication review process,” Michael Bromwich, the attorney for Bolton’s pre-publication reviewer Ellen Knight, told CNN this week. “It was the way he handled classified information outside that process … that he will admit to. It was sloppy and illegal but not sinister.”