(Headline USA) The FBI seized phones, computer equipment and typed documents from the home of John Bolton as part of an investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s first-term national security adviser mishandled government secrets, according to court records unsealed Thursday.
The criminal investigation burst into view last month when agents searched Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland and his office in the District of Columbia. The newly unsealed court records show that Bolton is under investigation for violating “gathering, transmitting to an unauthorized person, or losing, information pertaining to the national defense, and to conspiracies to commit such offenses”—in other words, for espionage. No charges have been filed.
A coalition of news organizations had urged a judge in Maryland, where the FBI had applied to a judge for a search warrant, to unseal records surrounding the search, citing a “tremendous public interest” that they said outweighed the need for continued secrecy.
Redacted documents were made public Thursday that shed new light on the investigation. Among them is a search warrant inventory showing that the FBI took from the home multiple phones, computer equipment, four boxes containing daily printed activities, typed documents in folders labeled “Trump I-IV,” and other materials.
George Conway may have inadvertently spilled the beans outside of John Bolton’s house:
“From what I’ve heard, John Bolton was always fastidious with classified… material.”
Why would George have any idea about Bolton’s handling of classified material? pic.twitter.com/CpL3GnWYDm
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) August 22, 2025
The court records also cite two criminal statutes underpinning the investigation, including laws that make it a crime to gather, transmit or lose defense information and the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or materials.
Bolton has not spoken publicly about the circumstances of the investigation since the search, and did not return a phone message left at a number listed for him.
Bolton, a notorious war hawk, served for 17 months as national security adviser during Trump’s first term, clashing with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea, before being fired in 2019.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
