John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to President Donald Trump and later became one of his most vocal critics, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland, according to two sources familiar with the case who spoke to CNN on Thursday.
Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt as early as Friday.
The indictment follows a Justice Department investigation into Bolton’s alleged mishandling of classified information. He is accused of sharing highly sensitive material with his wife and daughter via email, sources told CNN.
Investigators also focused on notes Bolton reportedly made to himself in an AOL email account, which included diary-like summaries of his activities during his time in the Trump administration.
Earlier this summer, FBI agents executed search warrants at Bolton’s Maryland residence and his Washington, D.C. office. According to court records, agents seized multiple documents labeled “secret,” “confidential,” and “classified,” including materials related to weapons of mass destruction.
Bolton’s legal team is expected to respond to the charges in the coming days.
Bolton served for 17 months as Trump’s National Security Advisor during Trump’s first term in office, before he was fired in September of 2019.
The two have been at odds since then. Bolton has published a 592-page book in which he takes frequent shots at Trump, describing him as “erratic” and “foolish” and claiming he behaved “irrationally” and “bizarrely”.
The Justice Department sued to bar the book’s publication, claiming it contains classified information and that Bolton violated a non-disclosure agreement by writing the book. However, a federal US judge later ruled that Bolton can move forward in publishing the book.