Donald Trump lashes out at John Bolton following his guilty plea: 'Very foolish, unbalanced, and incompetent'

President Donald Trump launched a scathing criticism against his former national security adviser, John Bolton, after Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to improperly retaining classified materials from his time in the White House.

The former diplomat’s admission of guilt marks a milestone in efforts to hold high-ranking government officials accountable for their handling of sensitive information.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday night, Trump lashed out at the veteran official: “John Bolton, a very foolish, unbalanced, and incompetent former representative of the United States of America, has just pleaded guilty!”

The president continued his tirade by labeling him a proponent of destructive interventionism: “He is a terrible person, a lunatic who just wanted to start trouble and wars, and who was an unnecessary purveyor of death and destruction wherever he went.” Finally, he expressed his expectations regarding the court’s ruling: “Hopefully, he’ll be dealt with harshly!”

Massive leaks for a lucrative memoir

John Bolton, who adopted an openly critical stance toward Trump after leaving the first administration, had been formally indicted by a federal grand jury in 2025 on a total of 18 criminal charges related to the negligent handling of classified national documents.

The criminal charges detail that the former national security adviser extracted and transmitted more than 1,000 pages of official notes via his personal email and a commercial messaging app.

The recipients of these files were members of his own family circle who lacked the appropriate security clearances and authorizations. These notes served as the documentary basis for writing his controversial memoir, published in 2020 under the title "The Room Where It Happened."

Guilty plea and the national security debate

During Friday’s hearing at a federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, Bolton pleaded guilty to one count of withholding national defense information.

When asked by the judge about his guilt, he replied unequivocally: “I am, Your Honor,” later adding: “I’m sorry.”

This guilty plea represents a substantial institutional victory for the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, which has maintained strict scrutiny over alleged irregularities involving opposition political figures and members of the former Washington establishment.

U.S. Attorney Kelly O’Hayes confirmed the severity of the former adviser’s actions in an official statement: “Mr. Bolton knew the harm that the improper handling of classified material could cause to national security, and yet he committed this misconduct and put American lives at risk.”

The 77-year-old former official will appear in court again on Oct. 25 to hear his final sentence. Bolton faces a fine that could reach $2.25 million and a maximum prison sentence of up to 5 years, although his legal defense team is confident they can avoid incarceration.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued in a statement that Bolton took responsibility as “true leaders” do, maintaining that his decision “saved the government resources that would have been spent on a case that could have exposed additional sensitive information.”

Lowell attempted to draw a parallel with the previously dismissed Mar-a-Lago documents case against Trump, arguing that “Ambassador Bolton, whose offense was merely keeping a diary containing classified information, kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve his own interests.”