The Latest: Ex-national security adviser John Bolton pleads guilty in classified information case
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7:13 AM on Friday, June 26
By The Associated Press
Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to illegally retaining classified information, sealing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to avoid a prison term.
Bolton, who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump after serving in the Republican’s first administration, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28.
Also, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon would have been a blip in today’s news cycle, and he drew parallels between Nixon and Trump — arguing that both were targeted by “deep state” forces. “If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy,” Vance said.
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He can withdraw his guilty plea if the judge imposes a longer prison sentence or a larger fine.
Bolton must pay half of the fine within five days of his plea and the balance within 90 days. He agreed to forfeit his retirement pay for his federal service. The plea deal also requires him to submit to a debriefing with federal intelligence officials and perform up to 100 hours of community service.
After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of his offenses, Bolton agreed it was accurate.
“I’m sorry for it,” he told the judge.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said Bolton “did what real leaders do” by pleading guilty.
While some of those cases have collapsed under judicial scrutiny and amid claims of political retribution, Bolton didn’t mount a vigorous defense against his charges before cutting a deal.
FBI agents searched Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington, D.C., office last August, but the investigation began before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
That included diary-like notes he shared with relatives as he wrote a memoir about his career in government.
Bolton served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before getting pushed out in 2019. He later published a book called “The Room Where it Happened” that presented an unflattering portrait of Trump’s leadership.
The Trump administration fought unsuccessfully to block the book’s release, claiming it contained classified information that could jeopardize national security. Trump derided Bolton as a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”
Bolton’s indictment focused on notes he shared with his wife and daughter rather than the contents of his book. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of his relatives wrote, “Shhhhh,” prosecutors said.
Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to illegally retaining classified information, sealing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to avoid a prison term.
Bolton, who became an outspoken critic of Trump after serving in the Republican’s first administration, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Bolton pleaded guilty to a single count of illegally retaining classified information. His plea agreement with the Justice Department may enable him to avoid time behind bars, but the judge ultimately will decide his punishment.
The plea agreement recommends capping any prison sentence at five years but the judge isn’t bound by that part of the deal.
The Democratic National Committee is organizing hundreds of community events across the country this weekend in hopes of harnessing the same concerns about affordability that Trump capitalized on to return to the White House.
The events include school supply giveaways, food bank drives, neighborhood door knockings and organizer trainings.
“Everything costs too damn much under Donald Trump and the Republicans,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
Martin said party members planned “to reach, engage, register, and mobilize voters who will make the difference in races up and down the ballot.”
The United States is celebrating its 250th year. And what better way to mark that anniversary than with an American summer staple — a trip to the nation’s capital.
But visitors to Washington will find that the city is undergoing tremendous change, courtesy of President Trump’s takeover makeover.
Since returning to office 17 months ago, Trump has demonstrated a continuing fixation with the District of Columbia. The Republican president has slapped his image and name on buildings, torn down storied structures, altered others, started massive construction projects and deployed armed military personnel.
The traditional tourist sights remain. But with slight detours, an open mind and a critical eye, the ambitious walker can see all the ways the president has pushed to remake the capital.
The Trump administration is moving to restart the specialized LGBTQ+ option for youth who contact the 988 crisis intervention hotline, but the group that helped pioneer the idea is being shut out.
The Trevor Project, the leading nonprofit for suicide prevention in LGBTQ+ young people, may not be allowed to offer the service it had helped develop for the 988 Lifeline just a few years ago.
The 988 hotline, which has been dubbed the 911 for mental health emergencies, is credited with reducing teen and young adult suicide deaths. It offers specialized options for certain groups, such as veterans and Spanish speakers, but in July the Trump administration stopped offering the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth with a month’s notice.
The administration said it ended the service because the funding ran out. It’s now working to bring it back by the end of the year because Congress directed officials to allocate $33 million toward LGBTQ+-specific interventions for youth.
However, The Trevor Project might not be allowed to offer the services it developed and specializes in.
The reach of the Supreme Court’s decision allowing Trump’s administration to end temporary legal protections for Haitian and Syrian immigrants may extend to many other countries.
Thursday´s decision directly applies to about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, but may be a sign of what´s in store for nearly 1.3 million people from 17 countries on Temporary Protected Status. Many have lived and worked in the United States for decades and have American children.
The decision exposes TPS holders from Haiti and Syria to potential detention and deportation. It could also pave the way for hundreds of thousands of other beneficiaries with pending asylum claims or other immigration relief to be forced to leave the country.
People of all nationalities whose TPS was ended by the Trump administration have filed dozens of lawsuits. Many of these cases are still ongoing, and judges will closely examine the Supreme Court’s decision.
A liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project, a top official at the National Park Service says.
The U.S. Park Police responded June 9 to a complaint by the park service, said Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the park service. Lands made the statement in a court document filed late Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit organization to halt the Trump administration’s work on the project.
His statement does not say when exactly the damage occurred or whether it was a suspected case of vandalism and does not identify anyone who might have been involved.
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon would have been a blip in today’s news cycle, and he drew parallels between Nixon and President Donald Trump — arguing that both were targeted by “deep state” forces.
Vance described his admiration for Nixon during a conversation at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California. Widely expected to be a presidential contender in 2028, Vance spoke at the library while promoting his new book, “Communion.”
After talking about the book and his faith journey, Vance shifted to Nixon, saying the legacy of the 37th president is “enjoying a bit of a renaissance.”
“If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy,” Vance said.
He went on: “If you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration.”
A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and limit who can receive a mail ballot.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sided with a coalition of nearly two dozen states that challenged the Republican president’s order in granting a summary judgment. Her ruling applies to this year’s midterm election cycle.
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in Boston, that Trump’s order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules.
It was the second ruling in as many days against executive orders Trump has signed seeking oversight of the nation’s elections. A separate ruling Wednesday prohibited an executive order he had signed last year that would have required people to show documents proving their citizenship when registering to vote.
