On Friday, John Bolton entered a not guilty plea to allegations of sharing classified information with family members and keeping top-secret files at his residence. He left a Maryland courthouse without addressing the media.

The former national security adviser, who famously criticized Donald Trump in a revealing 2020 memoir, turned himself in to authorities in Greenbelt. At the hearing, he denied an 18-count indictment for allegedly passing on national defense information, in front of US Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan.

Abbe Lowell, Bolton’s prominent attorney, dismissed the charges as a retaliatory move intended to penalize his client for publishing “The Room Where It Happened.” The memoir, which offered a critical look at Trump, had previously stirred significant controversy within the former administration.

Bolton faces charges of mishandling classified information, a dramatic twist that could result in a decade-long prison sentence for the vocal Trump critic.

This case is viewed as part of a broader pattern of legal actions against Trump detractors. Bolton has indicated his willingness to contest the charges and bring to light the alleged abuses of power by the previous administration.

A federal grand jury in Maryland has accused Bolton of utilizing his personal AOL email account to transmit national security documents.

The indictment comes two months after FBI agents raided Bolton’s Washington, D.C. office and suburban Maryland home.

The FBI was looking for possible violations of the Espionage Act, a law that dates back to 1917 and makes unauthorized possession of national security documents illegal.

Bolton surrendered himself at the Greenbelt Federal Courthouse in Maryland on Friday morning

Bolton was escorted by a private security guard as he left his home on Friday

The former national security adviser was indicted Thursday on charges of mishandling classified information

Court records also said a foreign entity had hacked Bolton’s email account, but the details were redacted.

Bolton described the indictment as ‘retribution’ from Trump for their sour relationship.

‘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”,’ Bolton said of the charges on Thursday.

Under Joseph Stalin’s brutal rule of the Soviet Regime, his notorious secret police agency was responsible for mass arrests, torture, and execution of his critics.

‘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.

Bolton was tapped as Trump’s third national security adviser during his first term after previously serving as President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Bolton was major advocate of the Iraq war and has pushed for regime change in Iran

Bolton claimed the criminal charges  from the DOJ are designed to silence him for bashing Trump

At Bolton’s D.C. office, federal agents discovered documents marked ‘confidential’ that referenced weapons of mass destruction, according to unsealed court records.

At his Maryland home, agents seized two cell phones, documents in folders labeled ‘Trump I-IV’ and a binder labeled ‘statements and reflections to Allied Strikes,’ the court records also showed.

After leaving the Trump White House, Bolton became a prominent critic of the president, calling the former real estate developer ‘stunningly uninformed’ in his memoir, which the Trump administration had tried to block.

As Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fought to stay out of prison for his role in disclosing classified information, Bolton famously argued that the journalist should receive a ‘176-year’ sentence. Bolton now faces decades behind bars for similar offenses. 

Trump’s Justice Department has also leveled indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

But unlike the cases against Comey and James, career prosecutors are behind the case against Bolton, with the investigation launching before the second Trump administration.

Bolton’s next scheduled court hearing is set for November 21.