John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser from 2018-2019, was indicted on 18 counts by a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday afternoon.
Here are five key excerpts in Bolton's indictment.
1. "From on or about April 9, 2018, through at least on or about August 22, 2025, Bolton abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about 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 level—with two unauthorized individuals, namely Individuals 1 and 2."
Individuals 1 and 2 are reportedly his wife and daughter, CNN reports. Neither have U.S. security clearances.
2. "Bolton sent diary-like entries to Individuals 1 and 2 that contained information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level. Bolton wrote many of these diary-like entries by transcribing his handwritten notes from his day’s activities into word processing documents, which he then electronically sent to Individuals 1 and 2 through a commercial non-governmental messaging application. On other occasions, Bolton used his personal non-governmental email accounts, such as email accounts hosted by AOL and Google, to email information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level to Individuals 1 and/or 2 at their person email accounts."
Bolton may have reportedly been working on a future book and was apparently composing his notes via his personal email, according to CNN.
3. "At some unknown time, but no later than August 22, 2025, many of the diary-like entries from Bolton’s time as the National Security Advisor, including entries that contained national defense information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level, were printed and stored in Bolton’s personal residence in Montgomery County, Maryland. Digital copies of some of the diary-like entries that contained national defense information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level were also stored on personal electronic devices used by Bolton and others located in Bolton’s personal residence in Montgomery County, Maryland, on August 22, 2025."
He allegedly did not tell U.S. government personnel that he had sent the national defense and classified information to his wife and daughter.
4. "At some point between when Bolton left government service in September 2019 and July 2021, a cyber actor believed to be associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran hacked Bolton’s personal email account and gained unauthorized access to the classified and national defense information in the account, which Bolton had previously emailed to Individuals 1 and 2 while he was the National Security Advisor."
A representative for Bolton apparently told government officials about the hack, but did not disclose that the hack included national defense information and classified information.
5. "As set forth above, between on or about April 9, 2018, and September 15, 2019, Bolton sent Individuals 1 and 2 contemporaneous notes, on a regular basis, describing in detail his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor… The information contained in these notes included detailed information that Bolton learned from meetings with senior members of the U.S. Government, intelligence briefings from members of the intelligence community and military, discussions with foreign leaders and foreign intelligence and military organizations, and intelligence products and reports, which Bolton had access to because of his role as National Security Advisor."
Bolton wrote these notes on yellow notepads throughout the day, then went home and transcribed his notes.