John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who later became a prominent critic, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of retaining national security information, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Under the agreement with federal prosecutors, Bolton will be arraigned again on June 26. After that arraignment, the judge will have up to 90 days to impose a sentence, the sources said.
Bolton faces a potential sentence that ranges from probation to as much as 60 months in prison. He has also agreed to pay $2.25 million in restitution, according to one source.
The charge centers on an electronic diary entry in which Bolton described national security information; that entry was shared with two family members, the sources said. One source emphasized there is no allegation that Bolton removed classified documents to his home, leaked documents publicly, or shared them with foreign adversaries.
Bolton was arrested in October and initially pleaded not guilty. At that time a federal grand jury in Maryland had indicted him on a slate of charges, including eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of that information.
A person close to Bolton told NBC News he changed his plea for the good of the country. The source described the decision as very difficult and said Bolton is taking responsibility; they added he was reluctant to go to trial because defending himself there would require disclosing many additional classified documents, which he did not want to do given sensitive situations involving Ukraine and the Middle East.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.