Former National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to reporters after speaking in a panel hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran – U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) at the Willard InterContinental Hotel on Aug. 17, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

John Bolton, a former national security advisor to President Donald Trump and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Maryland on charges of mishandling classified information.

Bolton, 76, is the third high-profile Trump foe in recent weeks to be criminally charged after extensive criticism by the president.

The 26-page indictment in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt charged the Republican with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information.

Bolton allegedly shared classified information with two relatives while he was Trump's national security advisor from April 2018 through September 2019, and kept such information at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, after leaving that post.

The indictment also says that someone suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran obtained classified information after hacking into Bolton's personal email account, which he used to share that information with his relatives.

The charges came nearly two months after FBI agents raided Bolton's home and office in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 22 as part of the criminal investigation.

Two senior federal law enforcement sources told NBC News that Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities on Friday and then appear in court later in the day.

Bolton said he was innocent and that he was being targeted in a manner akin to the Soviet Union's secret police under Stalin because of his outspoken opposition to Trump.

His claim echoed what former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James said after they were separately indicted recently in Virginia following calls by Trump for them to be charged.

"These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct," Bolton said of Trump, who previously was prosecuted for retaining classified documents after his first term in the White House.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he had not known that Bolton had been indicted.

"You're telling me for the first time, but I think he's ... a bad person," Trump said. "He's a bad guy. It's too bad. But that's the way it goes right? That's the way it goes."

Bolton faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison on each count if convicted. But federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a punishment that would be much less severe.

FBI agents carry boxes as they exit the building that houses the Washington office of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 22, 2025.

Aaron Schwartz | Reuters

The indictment says that Bolton, from 2018 until August 2025, shared "more than a thousand pages of his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor — including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI [sensitive compartmented information] level — with two unauthorized individuals" who were relatives of his.

Neither of those two people, who were identified by MSNBC as Bolton's wife and daughter, had security clearances, the indictment says.

"Bolton also unlawfully retained documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense, including information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level, in his home," the indictment said.

Bolton is accused of sending, through non-governmental messaging applications like AOL and Gmail, "diary-like entries" that contained information classified as top secret to his two relatives.

In July 2021, a representative of Bolton told the FBI that a cyber hacker believed to be associated with Iran hacked Bolton's personal email account, according to the indictment.

On July 25, 2021, Bolton received an email related to the hack, which threatened to notify the FBI about it.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

"This could be the biggest scandal since Hillary's emails were leaked, but this time on the G.O.P. side!" the email said, according to the indictment. "Contact me before it's too late."

The indictment said the hacker had "gained unauthorized access to the classified and national defense information in that account, which Bolton had previously emailed to Individuals 1 and 2 while he was the National Security Advisor." But Bolton allegedly never told the FBI of that fact, according to the indictment.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in a statement on Bolton's indictment, said, "There is one tier of justice for all Americans."

"Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law," Bondi said.

Bolton's attorney, Abbe Lowell, in a statement, said, "The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago."

"These charges stem from portions of Amb. 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," Lowell said.

"Like many public officials throughout history, Amb. Bolton kept diaries – that is not a crime," Lowell said. "We look forward to proving once again that Amb. Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information."

Bolton, in his own statement, "For four decades, I have devoted my life to America's foreign policy and national security. I would never compromise those goals."

He said that "Trump's retribution against me began then, continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book, The Room Where It Happened, before the 2020 election, and became one of his rallying cries in his re-election campaign. Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts."

Bolton also said that when his email was hacked, "the FBI was made fully aware.'

'In four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed," Bolton said. "Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin's head of secret police once said, 'You show me the man, and I'll show you the crime.' "

"Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America's constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom," Bolton said. "I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power."