John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump's national security adviser before becoming a vocal critic of the president, has been criminally indicted on federal charges.
The Department of Justice presented a case to a grand jury in Maryland on Thursday, and they agreed there was enough evidence to indict Bolton, who issued a statement maintaining his innocence.
It comes after FBI agents searched Bolton's home and office in August as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information.
The indictment makes Bolton, 76, the third of the US president's political opponents to face charges in recent weeks. He could face decades in prison.According to a 26-page indictment filed at a court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday, Bolton is charged with eight counts of transmission of national defence information (NDI) and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI.
An indictment in the US justice system is a formal accusation issued by a grand jury - a group of members of the public set up by a prosecutor to review evidence to determine if a case should proceed.
Prosecutors accuse Bolton of illegally transmitting top secret information about US national defence using his personal email and other messaging apps.
"These documents revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations," the court papers state.Bolton, who served as George W Bush's UN ambassador, was among former officials critical of Trump who had their Secret Service protection stripped in January.
He is the third Trump critic to be criminally charged since September.
New York City Attorney General Letitia James was indicted on bank fraud charges in October.
Former FBI director James Comey was charged in late September with lying to Congress.
The cases were filed after Trump urged the US attorney general to prosecute his political opponents.
"We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," he wrote on social media.
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