Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to a single count of illegally retaining classified national defence information, appearing before a federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he told the judge, "I'm sorry for it." Bolton, 77, who served under President Donald Trump before becoming one of his most prominent critics, was originally indicted on 18 counts related to sharing diary-style notes — totalling over 1,000 pages — with family members while writing his White House memoir; a separate court filing revealed that a hacker linked to Iran later accessed classified material from his personal email account. Under a plea agreement with the Justice Department, Bolton will pay a fine of $2.25 million and forfeit his federal retirement pay, with sentencing set for 28 October and a possible prison term of up to five years, though the deal is structured to allow him to potentially avoid incarceration entirely.