The Justice Department is expected to present a possible criminal case and seek an indictment against former national security adviser John Bolton as early as Thursday afternoon at a federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
In August, the FBI searched Bolton’s home home and office as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents, sources told CBS News at the time. According to unsealed court documents, agents found files marked classified during the searches. The FBI said it found numerous confidential documents at Bolton’s home and office, and the bureau took phones, hard drives and computers as part of the search, according to court documents.
Bolton served as national security adviser during Mr. Trump’s first term, but he left the role after 17 months of disagreements over Middle East policy. Mr. Trump said he asked Bolton for his resignation, but Bolton said he offered his resignation.
He later wrote a book about his tenure in the Trump White House — “The Room Where It Happened” — that painted the president in an unflattering light. The first Trump administration tried to stop the book’s publication and later sued him for the profits, arguing that it contained classified information. The Ministry of Justice open a criminal investigation into whether Bolton published classified information, claiming he failed to conduct a pre-publication review.
Bolton has denied any wrongdoing. The Biden administration subsequently closed the investigation into him and dropped the lawsuit.
