Federal investigators said in a newly released, heavily redacted affidavit that former national security adviser John Bolton used a private email account that was at one point hacked by a “foreign entity,” a development cited as part of the probable cause for searches of his home and office.
The 41-page affidavit, released Friday, was used to justify raids of Bolton’s Maryland residence and his Washington office last month. It says the hacking incident prompted agents to investigate whether Bolton mishandled classified records while serving in the Trump administration, but large portions of the roughly 10 pages detailing the hack are redacted and the document does not identify the foreign actor.
The New York Post and other outlets previously reported that Bolton allegedly used a private email account to send highly sensitive documents to family members while he was at the White House. The affidavit echoes those accounts, saying U.S. intelligence retrieved emails from an adversary government’s spy agency that appeared to show Bolton had sent sensitive material outside secure channels. The affidavit states that material in those communications gave agents reason to believe classified information had been mishandled.
The documents also recount a separate review of the manuscript for Bolton’s 2020 book, The Room Where It Happened. A National Security Council official who reviewed the manuscript before publication told Bolton’s lawyer that the draft contained “significant amounts” of classified information, including material at the top-secret level, and said the text appeared “likely produced from notes written by your client during his service at the White House.” The letter included in the affidavit said, “When your client received his employee debriefing, he stated that he did not have any notes or other records from his government service,” and asked the lawyer to confirm whether Bolton had retained any such records.
Investigators initially opened an inquiry into Bolton’s use of a private email account in 2020, according to reporting cited in the affidavit. The probe continued into the Biden administration and was later frozen, the reports said. The New York Post reported that FBI Director Kash Patel recently reopened the dormant investigation; the affidavit itself does not detail who ordered the reopening.
Bolton, who served as national security adviser for 17 months and often clashed with President Donald Trump over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea, has not been arrested and is not currently charged with a crime. The raids on his Maryland home and his Washington office were carried out by FBI agents last month as part of the ongoing inquiry.
Abbe Lowell, who has represented Hunter Biden in other matters, is listed in the affidavit as Bolton’s attorney. Lowell did not respond to requests for comment, the affidavit notes.
The release of the affidavit provides new detail about the evidence that federal agents considered when seeking search warrants, but many key passages remain redacted. The redactions obscure the identity of the foreign entity cited and other investigative specifics. Federal prosecutors and the FBI declined to comment beyond the affidavit’s release.
The inquiry into Bolton’s handling of documents complements a broader, yearslong focus within the government on the storage and transmission of classified information by former officials and private individuals. Bolton’s book was published in 2020 and included critical assessments of Trump’s foreign policy; the NSC review and the retrieval of materials by U.S. intelligence prompted the initial examination of whether classified material had been retained or released improperly.
As the investigation continues, the affidavit makes clear that agents are relying on intelligence obtained from foreign sources and prepublication reviews to establish probable cause. No charges have been filed publicly, and the affidavit’s redactions leave unresolved questions about the full scope and findings of the probe.