WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded not guilty Friday at a Maryland federal courthouse to charges that he allegedly mishandled classified materials.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged Bolton, a former top aide to President Donald Trump during his first term, with breaking laws related to the transmission or retention of national defense information. The charges were unveiled in an 18-count indictment made public Thursday.

Bolton pleaded not guilty during his court appearance, according to a spokeswoman for his legal team.

The alleged misconduct spanned from about April 2018 to August 2025, according to the indictment. Bolton “abused his position as National Security Adviser by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” on the job, prosecutors said.

Bolton, who became one of Trump’s fiercest critics, is the latest of the president’s perceived enemies to face charges.

“Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law.”

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement after the indictment that his client hadn’t broken the law and the documents involve portions of personal diaries and other unclassified records.

“The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago,” Lowell said. “We look forward to proving once again that Ambassador Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.”

Discussing Terms

Between April 2018 and September 2019, Bolton allegedly “sent diary-like entries” to two unnamed individuals — who were identified as being related to Bolton — that contained top secret information, according to the indictment. Bolton sent some of the information using his personal email accounts, such as those hosted by AOL and Google, prosecutors said.

Information that Bolton allegedly mishandled included details about covert action plans and pending attacks, human intelligence gathered using sensitive sources and methods, and intelligence on an adversary’s leaders, according to the indictment.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he hadn’t reviewed the case against Bolton, but described his former adviser as “a bad person.”

Bolton allegedly used a group chat to send some messages. According to the indictment, one of the unnamed individuals asked why they were using a group chat. Bolton replied: “For Diary in the future!!!”

FBI agents searched Bolton’s home and Washington office in August. They found items marked as classified, secret and confidential during the office search, according to an earlier court filing.

Trump has called for retribution against some of his fiercest critics. But the allegations against Bolton differ in breadth from recent charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Comey was indicted for allegedly lying to lawmakers, while James is accused of violations related to alleged mortgage fraud. Both Comey and James have denied the allegations and said they will fight them in court.

Documents Collected

A description of the documents collected during the search of Bolton’s office indicated they contained information about weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the United Nations and plans for government strategic communications, according to the filing. Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under former President George W. Bush.

“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton,” defense lawyer Lowell said after the classified documents were found at his office. “These materials, many of which are documents that had been previously approved as part of a pre-publication review for Ambassador Bolton’s book, were reviewed and closed years ago.”

The case is U.S. v. Bolton, 25-cr-314, US District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).

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