WASHINGTON

Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he illegally shared classified information with relatives and stored top secret documents at his Maryland home, according to media reports.

Bolton, who served Trump during the president's first term in office, surrendered to federal authorities in Maryland earlier in the day after being indicted Thursday for allegedly mishandling classified information.

Making his first court appearance, the now-critic of the administration faces eight counts of transmitting national security information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information.

"Bolton abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor -- including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the top secret/SCI level -- with two unauthorized individuals," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.

"Bolton also unlawfully retained documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense, including information classified up to the top secret/SCI level, in his home in Montgomery County, Maryland," they added.

The filing of charges against Bolton came after the FBI raided his suburban Maryland home outside of Washington, D.C., where federal investigators seized cell phones, documents, digital storage devices and other items.

Bolton has claimed that the charges against him were part of Trump's intimidation tactics against his political enemies, making reference to the president taking a page out of the playbook of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin's head of secret police: "You show me the man, and I'll show you the crime."

"These charges are not just about (Trump's) 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," said Bolton.

"Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America’s constitutional system, and vitally important to our freedom," he added. "I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power."