STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
John Bolton agreed to plead guilty.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Bolton once served as President Trump's national security advisor. He later became a tough critic of the president. His plea for mishandling classified information would resolve the criminal case the Justice Department brought against Bolton last year.
INSKEEP: NPR Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas has the unclassified version of this story. He's in our studio, Studio 31. Ryan, thanks for coming by.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What were the charges against Bolton?
LUCAS: So, look, Bolton was indicted in October on 18 criminal counts for retention and transmission of national defense information. And the allegations in the indictment date to his time as national security advisor, as you said, in Trump's first term. Now, prosecutors say that Bolton regularly took handwritten notes about what he was doing on a daily basis as national security advisor, so things that he was hearing in meetings with U.S. intelligence officials, military officials or in talks with foreign leaders. And then he would send that very sensitive information - some of it highly classified - to two family members, either in text messages or in email. And I will also say that FBI agents discovered digital or printed copies of some of that at his home.
INSKEEP: OK, so lots of evidence to back up the allegations. What is the agreement, then?
LUCAS: So, first off, it's important to say that this is a tentative plea deal. It would still have to be signed off on by a judge. But a person familiar with the matter tells me that under the plea deal, Bolton would plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information. He would also face a fine of a little more than $2 million. And he could face anywhere from zero prison time to up to five years in prison, but that is much, much less than if he had taken this case to trial and been found guilty. Now, a judge, as I said, has to still approve any plea deal, and ultimately, it's the judge who's going to decide on Bolton's sentence. Now, I reached out to the Justice Department. It declined to comment, other than referring me to a court notice, scheduling a re-arraignment for Bolton at the end of the month. And that is something that often signals that a plea deal has been agreed to.
INSKEEP: People will remember the backstory here. The FBI searched President Trump's residence when he was out of office a few years ago. He was found to be keeping classified information on a stage, in a bathroom. The case against him was thrown out by a judge that he appointed. Now, is there some irony that Trump's Justice department that he closely controls would pursue Bolton over classified information?
LUCAS: Well, look, Bolton has said that he thinks that he is being targeted for political reasons for being a very outspoken critic of President Trump. That is Bolton's view. But, look, former prosecutors, former senior intelligence officials who I have spoken with think that this case against Bolton has real legal merit. The investigation, it's important to say, began under the Biden administration. It...
INSKEEP: Right.
LUCAS: ...Continued under Trump. The indictment is 26 pages long. It has detailed allegations in it. And it's important to say that the process that led to Bolton's indictment was normal. And that is very different from, say, the first prosecution of former FBI director James Comey or New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Remember, they were indicted last year after Trump publicly called on the Justice Department to go after them.
INSKEEP: Right.
LUCAS: Career prosecutors thought those cases were weak. They were overruled. And ultimately, those cases were tossed after a court found that the prosecutor who secured them was unlawfully put in place. So the list of the president's perceived enemies who have been targeted by the Justice Department is long, and one of the side effects of the Justice Department that is seen as targeting political enemies is that even when an investigation is legitimate, it can be perceived by the public as being driven by politics and revenge.
INSKEEP: Ryan, thanks for the insights and for going through the differences there. Really appreciate it.
LUCAS: Thank you.
INSKEEP: NPR's Ryan Lucas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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