Overview

• U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan released a heavily redacted search-warrant affidavit, ruling that broader disclosure could harm an ongoing national security investigation.
• The filing says investigators had probable cause to believe classified and national defense information was unlawfully kept at John Bolton’s Maryland residence; Bolton has not been charged.
• A ten-page section titled “Hack of Bolton AOL Account by Foreign Entity” is fully blacked out, confirming the probe’s focus on a foreign compromise of his personal email.
• Agents executing August warrants seized multiple devices and records from Bolton’s home and D.C. office, including phones, laptops, drives and several documents, for forensic review.
• The affidavit recounts NSC reviewer Ellen Knight’s 2020 warnings that Bolton’s manuscript contained classified material, while separate reporting says U.S. intelligence obtained Bolton emails from an adversarial service, with Iran, Russia or China discussed by sources as possible culprits but not publicly confirmed.