Judge urges lawyers to slow pace in Bolton classified documents case

GREENBELT, MD — Lawyers for John Bolton and the Trump administration appeared in federal court in Maryland on Friday to discuss next steps in the criminal case of Trump’s former national security adviser, who was indicted last month for mishandling classified and sensitive documents.

Bolton was indicted last month on 18 criminal charges stemming from his alleged possession and transmission of classified and sensitive documents during Trump’s first term, including national defense information.

Authorities accused him of sending more than 1,000 “diary-like” updates to his wife and daughter between 2018 and 2019 via emails and text messages, including classified information from intelligence briefings and meetings with foreign officials.

The preliminary hearing in Bolton’s case Friday was largely a procedural hearing, focused on next steps for both sides to consider the extent of the discovery materials Bolton is accused of illegally retaining and transmitting.

If nothing else, it highlighted the fact that Bolton’s trial probably won’t happen for some time. The deadlines agreed to by both sides will place discovery in the case until 2026, with a status conference in the case scheduled for October of next year. A trial date has not yet been set.

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Former National Security Advisor John Bolton arrives for his arraignment at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, in October. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP)

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang appeared reluctant to agree to the government’s proposed lengthy delay for the document review process, emphasizing the government’s obligations under the Speedy Trials Act, which sets deadlines for federal criminal trials.

Seven months “is a very long time,” Chuang told Thomas Sullivan, the Justice Department’s lead prosecutor, referring to the proposed May 22, 2026, date for discovery.

“How many documents are at stake here? Frankly, most of these documents should have been drafted before the indictment,” Chuang noted. “Even assuming this can’t be completed, I still don’t understand why it would take seven months.”

In response, prosecutors said they still had to sort through some 1,000 pages of single-space documents obtained from Bolton’s home, and reiterated that they had set “aggressive deadlines” for the intelligence community to review the documents.

Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in response that there were as many as three electronic devices that they had “not even started the process of” reviewing, all of which needed to be examined by the screening team.

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John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to President Donald Trump during his first term, leaves his home in Bethesda, Maryland, Friday, October 17, 2025. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Chuang ultimately agreed to grant a modified review schedule for the documents in question. The parties were ordered to submit by Jan. 12 the first tranche of 10 documents that prosecutors described as being at the “core” of Bolton’s indictment.

They will also submit a joint status report detailing to the court where they are in the discovery process, and proposing the next interim deadline and the scope of documents that will be reviewed before then.

The hearing comes as Bolton has attempted to present his criminal case as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to go after his perceived political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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Then-National Security Advisor John R. Bolton listens as then-President Donald J. Trump meets with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, July 18, 2019, in Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Yet the arguments against Bolton differ considerably.

Unlike those cases, Bolton’s investigation into his handling of classified documents moved forward in part under the Biden administration, and career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office approved the charges — a contrast with the prosecutions against Comey and James, which were brought by former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan.

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Bolton, who pleaded not guilty to all charges last month, was released by a magistrate judge on the condition that he remain in the continental United States and surrender his passport.

In a statement released after his indictment, Bolton said, “I have become the latest target in the Justice Department’s weaponizing of those it considers its enemies with charges that have been previously dismissed or misrepresent the facts.” »