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Inside the Indictment

• Federal prosecutors accuse the former National Security Advisor of sharingover a thousand pages of top-secret intelligence with two unauthorized individuals.
• Bolton allegedly kept national defense documents—including covert action reports and missile intelligence—at his Maryland home until FBI agents seized them in August 2025.
• The 18-count indictment exposes possible violations of the Espionage Act that could send Bolton to prison for life, and even make him eligible for the death penalty if national-security damage is proven.

WASHINGTONG, DC - The 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Maryland paints a damning portrait of John Robert Bolton II, the former National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump. Prosecutors allege that between April 2018 and September 2019, Bolton routinely transmitted classified national defense information to two individuals—identified only as “Individuals #1 and #2.”

Both were reportedly related to Bolton, lived in Maryland, and never held a security clearance. Investigators say Bolton sent them diary-style notes almost daily, converting his handwritten yellow-pad entries into Word documents that he emailed or messaged through AOL and Google accounts and an unnamed encrypted chat app. The indictment states that Bolton referred to the pair as his “editors” and often opened messages with the line, “[Individual #1’s initials] start here.”

“From April 9, 2018, through at least August 22, 2025, Bolton abused his position by sharing more than a thousand pages of classified information,” prosecutors wrote.

Among the seized files were documents marked TOP SECRET/SCI, NOFORN, HCS, and ORCON—the highest tiers of classification protecting intelligence sources, human assets, and covert operations.

Eight Counts of Transmission

Counts 1–8 charge Bolton under 18 U.S.C. §793(d) for willfully transmitting national defense information to unauthorized persons. Each carries up to 10 years in federal prison.

Ten Counts of Retention

Counts 9–18 charge him under 18 U.S.C. §793(e) for willful retention of classified national defense materials. FBI agents allegedly recovered hard-copy and electronic versions of the same “diary” files during an August 22, 2025 search of his Montgomery County residence.

Those files contained intelligence on missile programs, human assets, and covert U.S. operations, all of which Bolton had no authority to store after his home SCIF was decommissioned in 2019.

Each retention count also carries up to 10 years, meaning Bolton faces a maximum theoretical exposure of 180 years imprisonment—not including potential enhanced penalties if prosecutors prove his disclosures directly endangered lives or aided foreign adversaries.

Under the most severe Espionage Act provisions, if the transmission “results in the death of an agent or harm to national security,” the defendant may face life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Individuals #1 and #2: The Mystery Connection

The government confirms only that both are related to Bolton. However, lines within the indictment suggest the pair served as editors or early reviewers of Bolton’s 2020 memoir The Room Where It Happened. One message references a publisher’s “right of first refusal,” implying that drafts and correspondence flowed directly from these diary files into the book process.

If proven, that connection could make the indictment’s unnamed recipients unindicted co-conspirators—especially if they assisted with manuscript preparation before the National Security Council’s pre-publication review.

The “Cloak & Dagger” Remark

In one encrypted chat dated July 2018, Individual 1 teased, “More to come with cloak and dagger … so he says.”
Prosecutors cite this as evidence Bolton and his confidants knew the sensitivity of their correspondence and concealed it. In espionage vernacular, “cloak and dagger” symbolizes covert intrigue—a phrase now likely to become emblematic of the government’s claim that Bolton’s conduct was deliberate, not accidental.

Why the “Personal Notes” Defense May Fail

Bolton is expected to argue that his notes were personal reflections, not government property. But legal experts point out that under Executive Order 13526 and Title 18 §793, information is classified based on content and origin, not ownership of the paper it’s written on.

That means once Bolton memorialized intelligence briefings or covert actions—even in shorthand—they became government records protected by law. His nondisclosure agreements, which he signed multiple times, explicitly barred him from “ever divulging classified information without prior written authorization.”

As a result, the “my notes are personal” argument is almost certain to collapse under scrutiny.

Bolton’s Own Words Come Back to Haunt Him

The indictment’s most devastating section recites Bolton’s past media interviews condemning others for the same conduct.

In 2017 he said:

“If I had done at the State Department what [a senior official] did, I’d be imprisoned right now.”

In 2025, months before his own indictment, he told a reporter:

“You simply don’t use commercial means of communication… there’s no excuse for it.”

Those statements are likely to appear in prosecutors’ closing argument to show willfulness and knowledge of wrongdoing.

What’s Next

• Arrest: Bolten is expected to be arrested by federal agents, booked, fingerprinted and mugshot taken; Legal analyst expect him to receive the full proverbial “Perk-Walk.”
• Initial Appearance: Expected within days in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland before a federal magistrate judge appointed by Obama.

🛑 In re United States of America v. John Robert Bolton, II, In The United States District Court for The District of Maryland; Criminal No. TDCDSCR314; Filed Oct. 16, 202

© 2025 Samuel A. Lopez | USA Herald
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