John Bolton expected to plead guilty in classified documents case, sources confirm

The justice department charged Bolton last October, accusing him of putting the public at risk by allegedly mishandling classified documents, some marked as top secret, during and after his stint as Trump's national security advisor between April 2018 and September 2019.Some of those documents related to "diary-like" entries from his time as national security advisor, that contained national defence information classified up to the top secret level, the indictment alleged.The single charge to which Bolton will plead guilty relates to the diary entries, the individuals familiar with his plea deal told the BBC.Bolton's indictment came on the heels of other high profile criminal cases brought against Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.Bolton has spoken critically of Trump since leaving his first administration, and wrote a book that contained criticism of the president. Trump has suggested that Bolton should go to jail.But former federal prosecutors and other legal experts told the BBC that Bolton's case stood apart from prosecution of other Trump critics due to the evidence gathered by prosecutors."The ambassador has admitted to what he has done," one of the people familiar with Bolton's plea deal told the BBC.Bolton also understood that if he continued to fight the case, "other classified information might have been released in his defence" and he did not want to "damage" the United States, the person said.