By Joe Udo
NEW YORK (CONVERSEER) – Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton has been indicted on charges of improperly handling classified materials, Fox News Digital reported on Thursday. The indictment follows a months-long investigation that included an FBI raid on his Maryland home in August.
Court records filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland revealed that federal agents seized more than a dozen items from Bolton’s Bethesda residence. The August 22 raid targeted classified documents allegedly in his possession.
Among the seized items were two iPhones — one red with dual cameras and another black in a black case — alongside three computers, including a silver Dell XPS laptop, a Dell Precision Tower 3620, and a Dell Inspiron 2330 desktop. Investigators also confiscated a Seagate hard drive, two Sandisk 64GB USB drives, a white binder titled “Statements and Reflections to Allied Strikes…”, and several folders labelled “Trump I–IV.”
Federal officials additionally removed four boxes containing what they described as “printed daily activities” from Bolton’s home.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital that CIA Director John Ratcliffe granted FBI Director Kash Patel limited access to intelligence materials, which formed the basis for the search warrant. The evidence reportedly justified the raid.
The inquiry into Bolton’s handling of classified documents initially began years earlier but was later discontinued by the Biden administration for what a senior U.S. official described as “political reasons.”
Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2019, was previously at the centre of a legal battle over his 2020 memoir “The Room Where It Happened.” The Trump administration argued that the book contained classified national security information, including intelligence sources, foreign policy discussions, and conversations with foreign leaders. A federal judge ultimately allowed its publication.
In June 2021, the Biden Justice Department dropped both the criminal and civil cases over the memoir. Bolton’s attorney maintained that the book had undergone a thorough pre-publication review, which required revisions before concluding that no classified material remained.
The memoir contained a critical account of the Trump administration, including claims that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to assist his re-election campaign.
Bolton and Trump have had a strained relationship since his departure in 2019 due to policy disagreements. Bolton has criticised Trump’s handling of classified documents, particularly after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022, though he urged that “the legal process play out.”
Trump, who initially faced 40 felony counts over the classified documents case, saw the case dismissed in July 2024.
Bolton has continued to play an active role in national security debates, sometimes supporting Trump’s policies, such as the June strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he described as “decisive.”
Bolton has also been the target of Iranian threats for years. In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over an alleged 2021 plot to assassinate him.
Earlier in 2025, Bolton publicly criticised Trump after the president revoked his Secret Service protection the day after his second inauguration, calling it “a retribution presidency.”
Bolton’s indictment marks a significant development in a politically charged case involving a key figure from the Trump era, known for his hawkish foreign policy stance and outspoken criticism of former presidents.
