John Bolton to plead guilty to retaining classified information

Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton will plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information. A grand jury indicted Bolton on 18 counts in October, but the Justice Department has offered him a plea deal that could allow him to avoid jail time in exchange for paying a $2.25 million fine. After President Donald Trump fired Bolton in 2019, Bolton published a memoir about his time in the Trump administration that federal authorities say contains classified intelligence. Bolton, who clashed with the president over nato, Iran, Russia and other foreign-policy matters, became one of Trump’s most vocal critics after leaving the administration.