Federal investigators are probing John Bolton for possible wrongful retention and dissemination of classified national defense information. In August 2025, FBI agents conducted searches of Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington office, seizing documents and materials marked “secret, confidential, classified,” as well as phones and computers. The catalog of seized documents purportedly includes items concerning weapons‑of‑mass destruction, U.S. strategic communications, and diplomatic mission files.

The warrant affidavit asserts there was probable cause to believe Bolton illegally held classified national defense material and that a foreign entity may have accessed some of it. Some reporting also links the investigation to prior concerns over Bolton’s 2020 memoir The Room Where It Happened, which the government once challenged for not sufficiently undergoing prepublication review. Bolton’s legal team insists most of the materials are routine and date from his long government service, and his attorney has denied any wrongdoing.

No formal charges have been filed so far, and much of the evidence remains under seal. The investigation is being conducted under statutes like the Espionage Act and laws governing the handling of national defense information.  The case’s progress and timing have fueled debate over whether the inquiry is purely legal or mired in political overtones.