WASHINGTON — John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump turned prominent Trump critic, is expected to be charged with federal crimes soon, according to two federal officials with knowledge of the investigation.
One of the officials said Bolton could be indicted next week. The other said he could be indicted soon.
The charges would be brought by the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, where Bolton lives, the officials said. The development was first reported by MSNBC.
The FBI conducted searches of Bolton’s Maryland home and his Washington, D.C., office in August. A source familiar with the matter told NBC News at the time that the searches were part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records.”
Bolton’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement that the former adviser and diplomat had handled records appropriately.
“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Amb. Bolton. These materials, many of which are documents that had been approved as part of a pre-publication review for Amb. Bolton’s book, were reviewed and closed years ago,” Lowell said. “These are the kinds of ordinary records, many of which are 20 years old or more, that would be kept by a longtime career official who served at the State Department, as an Assistant Attorney General, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and the National Security Advisor.”
A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to discuss matters related to a grand jury.
“As a matter of law, we will not discuss any grand jury matters with the media, but this Justice Department is united as one team in our mission to make America safe again,” the spokesman said. “And the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, along with the entire team at Main Justice continue to empower our US Attorneys to pursue justice in every case.”
CIA information prompted searches
CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided intelligence to FBI Director Kash Patel that was the basis for the search warrant, the source said. Bolton served as one of Trump’s national security advisers in his first term before a contentious exit.
The searches were focused on Bolton’s handling of classified materials and potential instances of such documents being used in leaks to news media, the source said at the time. They added that it was related to a criminal investigation that began during the Biden administration.
Search warrant affidavits released last month referenced potential violations of the Espionage Act, including gathering or sharing national defense information without permission, and unauthorized possession of classified materials.
Trump publicly called for Bolton to be prosecuted in June 2020 after the then-former national security adviser wrote an unflattering book about his experience working for Trump.
“He released massive amounts of classified, and confidential, but classified information. That’s illegal and you go to jail for that,” Trump told Fox News in an interview at the time.
Bolton maintained that he had fulfilled his legal obligations and obtained a letter from a National Security Council official in 2020 that said the book contained no classified material.
Trump was indicted in 2023 on charges of mishandling top-secret documents and obstructing efforts to recover them after he left office. But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, threw out the charges in 2024.
Leading Trump critic
Bolton has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s, particularly on foreign policy involving Russia, in the years since. Bolton also continued criticizing Trump’s foreign policy after the searches.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Bolton as well, calling him a “lowlife” and “dumb,” among other things.
Days into Trump’s second term, the president canceled Bolton’s Secret Service detail, even though he was the target of an alleged murder-for-hire scheme by a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Bolton would be the third Trump critic to face criminal charges since late September.
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in late September on charges of making a false statement to Congress and obstruction. New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted on a bank fraud charge on Thursday.
Both of those indictments came after a Sept. 20 post on Truth Social, where Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against the pair, as well as Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” the post said. “We can’t delay any longer.”
An administration official told NBC News the public posting was meant to be sent to Bondi as a direct message.
Comey has pleaded not guilty to the charges and James has denied wrongdoing.
