Trump foe John Bolton enters guilty plea. Here's why his classified information case didn't fall apart

Trump foe John Bolton enters guilty plea. Here's why his classified information case didn't fall apart

As several criminal investigations into President Donald Trump's foes continue to flail, federal prosecutors are now ushering one of his biggest critics to a conviction.

Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of unlawfully retaining sensitive national security information - a rare win in the Justice Department's list of prosecutions against the president's political enemies.

The plea agreement prosecutors and attorneys for Bolton reached is for no more than 60 months in prison, with a $2.25 million fine.

Unlike cases against Trump's other political enemies, like former FBI Director James Comey, Bolton's case maintained support of career prosecutors and investigators.

In comments Bolton made after he was charged in October, he likened his prosecution to the horrific abuses of Joseph Stalin's secret police and claimed he was "the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department." Yet since the charges were unveiled last fall, the case has been viewed - even by critics of the Justice Department - as a legitimate prosecution decision.

It's expected that Bolton will advocate for no prison time, and the Justice Department may seek to jail him, setting up a major showdown at the sentencing, people familiar with the case say.

Bolton's attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement: "Ambassador Bolton, whose offense was only keeping a diary which contained classified information, kept a record to preserve history, but Donald Trump kept secrets to serve himself."