On August 22, 2025, the quiet suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, briefly became the center of a political and legal storm. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents executed search warrants at the home and office of John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, seizing a trove of electronics and documents as part of an intensifying investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information. The raid, which had been the subject of speculation and controversy, has now come into sharper focus as court documents and inventory lists have been made public.
According to the Justice Department inventory, agents confiscated two iPhones, a white binder labeled “statements and reflections to allied strikes,” folders marked “Trump I–IV,” four boxes of printed daily activities, one hard drive, two Sandisk USB drives, and three Dell computers. The search warrant, unsealed by a federal judge after a coalition of news organizations pressed for public access, cited potential violations of 18 U.S. Code § 793—relating to the gathering, transmitting, or losing of defense information—and 18 U.S. Code § 1924, which concerns the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. As reported by HuffPost and The Telegraph, the investigation also references the Espionage Act, a law that criminalizes the collection or sharing of national defense information without authorization.
This is not the first time Bolton has found himself at the center of a high-stakes legal battle over classified material. During Trump’s first term, the Justice Department launched an investigation into Bolton following the publication of his tell-all memoir, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. The book offered a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump administration and drew the ire of the White House, which attempted to block its release on national security grounds. While the initial probe appeared to have ended under President Joe Biden, CNN and HuffPost reported that the investigation was revived and has now reached a mature stage, as evidenced by the court-authorized search and the breadth of materials seized.
Bolton’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, sought to downplay the significance of the items taken, describing them as “ordinary records of a 40-year career serving this country at the State Department, as an Assistant Attorney General, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, and National Security Advisor.” Lowell assured CNN that, “Any thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton.” Despite requests for further comment, Lowell’s firm did not immediately respond to other news outlets.
The search itself was conducted with a level of preparation that suggests the government’s investigation is well advanced. As The Telegraph noted, prosecutors had to demonstrate probable cause that Bolton had mishandled sensitive materials in order to secure the warrants—no small legal hurdle. The Justice Department, however, has withheld the underlying affidavit detailing the evidence it has gathered against Bolton, leaving the public and media to speculate on the specifics of the case.
The raid and its aftermath have been colored by the fraught personal and political history between Bolton and Trump. Bolton served as national security adviser for 17 months, during which time he became known for his hawkish foreign policy views and frequent clashes with the president. Their relationship soured publicly after Bolton’s departure, with both men trading barbs in the press and in print. In the wake of the FBI search, Bolton penned an opinion piece in the Washington Examiner, lambasting Trump’s approach to the ongoing Ukraine conflict. “Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy today is no more coherent than it was last Friday when his administration executed search warrants against my home and office,” Bolton wrote. “Collapsing in confusion and haste, Trump’s negotiations may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize campaign.”
Trump, for his part, has not held back in his criticism of Bolton. When asked about the FBI raid, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know about it. I saw it on television this morning. I’m not a fan of John Bolton; he’s a real sort of a lowlife. He’s not a smart guy, but he could be very unpatriotic.” The former president’s comments, delivered on September 5, 2025, underscore the deep animosity that now defines their relationship.
The political context surrounding the investigation is equally complex. When news of the raid broke, some critics interpreted it as a possible act of political retribution by Trump against a former aide who has become one of his most vocal detractors. However, as The Telegraph clarified, the investigation into Bolton began under the Biden administration, not during Trump’s presidency. This detail, confirmed by court filings and reporting from multiple outlets, has shifted the narrative away from partisan score-settling and toward questions about the handling of classified material at the highest levels of government.
The Bolton case has also drawn inevitable comparisons to the high-profile investigation into Trump himself. In 2023, Trump faced dozens of felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified documents, following an FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate that turned up boxes of sensitive government records stored in unconventional locations, including a bathroom and a ballroom. That case, however, was dismissed the following year when a judge ruled that the appointment of a special counsel to prosecute Trump was unconstitutional. The echoes between the two cases—both involving former top officials, both centered on the alleged mishandling of state secrets, both marked by intense media scrutiny—have not gone unnoticed.
For now, Bolton has not commented directly on the FBI search of his home, choosing instead to focus his public remarks on Trump’s foreign policy. The Justice Department, meanwhile, remains tight-lipped about the evidence it has gathered and the potential charges that could result from the investigation. The unsealing of the search warrant and inventory list has provided the public with a glimpse into the scope and seriousness of the probe, but many questions remain unanswered.
As the legal process continues, the case against Bolton is likely to fuel further debate over the proper handling of classified information, the boundaries of executive privilege, and the ways in which political rivalries play out in the arena of criminal justice. With both Bolton and Trump having faced their own legal challenges related to state secrets, the saga is a stark reminder that the lines between public service, personal ambition, and national security are often anything but clear.
The coming months will reveal whether the investigation into Bolton yields criminal charges or simply adds another chapter to the long-running saga of classified information controversies in Washington. For now, the nation watches as two of its most combative political figures—once allies, now adversaries—find themselves on opposite sides of a legal divide, their fates intertwined in ways neither could have predicted.