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The Washington raid wasn’t the only one. On the same day—August 22—agents also hit Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland.
While officials didn’t list more classified files coming from the home search, they did haul away numerous electronic devices, including laptops and other storage hardware. Whatever is on those devices could prove critical to the investigation now underway.
Search warrants show federal agents are examining potential violations of the Espionage Act. Specifically, they’re looking at whether Bolton illegally gathered or retained national defense information.
If proven, these are felonies carrying heavy penalties. Politico first reported the warrants, confirming prosecutors are pursuing three serious charges tied to Bolton’s alleged handling of sensitive materials.
This isn’t Bolton’s first brush with classified information disputes. During Trump’s first term, the Justice Department sued him over claims he violated his security clearance by publishing a tell-all book about his time in the administration.
Back then, a federal judge even warned Bolton that some of his disclosures “may have been criminal.” But in 2021, the Biden Justice Department abruptly dropped that investigation—only for this new controversy to explode years later.
Court documents also reveal a strange twist: Bolton’s AOL email account was reportedly hacked by a foreign entity at some point. Investigators didn’t disclose how they learned this or whether the hack is tied to the classified files now at the center of the case.
The FBI inventory, released only after Politico and others sued for access, confirms four categories of classified materials: secret travel memos, confidential U.N. mission records, strategic communications documents, and files tied to weapons of mass destruction.
Bolton now joins a growing list of political heavyweights facing scrutiny over sensitive records. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been accused of improperly holding classified documents.
Trump dismissed his case after winning the 2024 election. Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Hur declined to charge Biden, describing him as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” whom a jury might sympathize with.
Whether Bolton gets the same treatment—or faces the full weight of the law—remains to be seen.
