Ex-Trump national security adviser John Bolton surrendered to federal authorities Friday after being indicted on charges of allegedly mishandling classified information. 

Bolton left his home in Bethesda, Maryland on Friday morning escorted by a private security guard. The Trump critic entered the district courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland where he surrendered himself to authorities for his first court appearance.

Bolton was indicted Thursday on charges of mishandling classified information, a stunning development that could see the outspoken critic of President Donald Trump spend a decade in jail.

A federal grand jury in Maryland accused Bolton of sending national security documents through his personal AOL account.

The indictment comes two months after FBI agents raided Bolton’s Washington, D.C. office and suburban Maryland home.

The FBI was looking for possible violations of the Espionage Act, a law that dates back to 1917 and makes unauthorized possession of national security documents illegal.

At Bolton’s D.C. office, federal agents discovered documents marked ‘confidential’ that referenced weapons of mass destruction, according to unsealed court records.

At his Maryland home, agents seized two cell phones, documents in folders labeled ‘Trump I-IV’ and a binder labeled ‘statements and reflections to Allied Strikes,’ the court records also showed.

Bolton surrendered himself at the Greenbelt Federal Courthouse in Maryland on Friday morning

Bolton was escorted by a private security guard as he left his home on Friday

The former national security adviser was indicted Thursday on charges of mishandling classified information

Court records also said a foreign entity had hacked Bolton’s email account, but the details were redacted.

Bolton hit out at the indictment on Thursday afternoon, describing it as ‘retribution’ from Trump for their sour relationship.

‘Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, “You show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime”,’ Bolton said of the charges.

Under Joseph Stalin’s brutal rule of the Soviet Regime, his notorious secret police agency were responsible for mass arrests, torture, and execution of his critics.

‘These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct,’ Bolton said.

‘Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom.’

Bolton was tapped as Trump’s third national security adviser during his first term after previously serving as President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Bolton was major advocate of the Iraq war and has pushed for regime change in Iran

Bolton claimed the criminal charges  from the DOJ are designed to silence him for bashing Trump

After leaving the Trump White House, Bolton became a prominent critic of the president, calling the former real estate developer ‘stunningly uninformed’ in his memoir, which the Trump administration had tried to block.

As Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fought to stay out of prison for his role in disclosing classified information, Bolton famously argued that the journalist should receive a ‘176-year’ sentence. Bolton now faces decades behind bars for similar offenses.