Bolton Used Private Server to Send Classified Materials: Report
Following the FBI raid on his home last week, former National Security Adviser John Bolton delivered a sharp critique of President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy, describing it as characterized by “confusion, haste, and disarray.”
“Collapsing in confusion, haste, and the absence of any discernible meeting of the minds among Ukraine, Russia, several European countries, and America, Trump’s negotiations may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize campaign,” Bolton, who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner.
Bolton argued that Trump’s effort to fast-track a peace deal was “inevitably” bound to fail, saying the Aug. 15 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska had been organized at a pace “almost surely unprecedented in modern history.”
Bolton criticized Trump’s abrupt reversal after the Alaska summit — stepping back from new sanctions on Moscow and dropping demands for a ceasefire in favor of pursuing a “final agreement” — as evidence of what he described as chaotic diplomacy.
The former U.N. ambassador also pointed to conflicting signals within the administration, noting that while Trump urged Ukraine to strike inside Russia, the Pentagon was blocking Kyiv from receiving long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), according to a Wall Street Journal report published Saturday.
He further argued that allies such as India were left “hanging out to dry” under newly imposed 50 percent U.S. tariffs, while Russia and China faced no comparable penalties.
“His efforts over the last two-plus weeks may have left us further from peace and a just settlement for Ukraine than before,” Bolton concluded, without mentioning that for years under the Biden administration, no one — including him — advocated for peace or tried to make peace as Trump has done.
The raid was reportedly connected to an investigation into allegations that John Bolton sent classified documents to family members from a private email server while serving in the White House, according to the New York Post.
The outlet cited a Trump administration official who said FBI Director Kash Patel authorized the operation.
The Post also reported that sealed search warrants reference a past controversy over Bolton’s memoir as part of an effort to establish a pattern of behavior. However, a senior U.S. official told the paper the current probe is a “clean break” from the earlier book-related investigation.
Shortly after the raid began, Patel wrote on X that “no one is above the law… [FBI] agents on a mission.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared the post and wrote, “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
Trump revoked Bolton’s security clearance and Secret Service detail in January 2025.
Asked about the raid on Friday, President Donald Trump said he was not briefed in advance and first learned of it from television coverage. He went on to express clear disdain for his former national security adviser.
“I’m not a fan of John Bolton. He’s a real lowlife,” Trump told reporters. He went on to call Bolton “not a smart guy” and said “he could be very unpatriotic.” The president also said Bolton was “a very quiet person except on television if he can say something bad about Trump.”
Vice President JD Vance told “Meet the Press” on Friday that “we’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton.” The VP also denied Bolton was being targeted for criticizing Trump.
Fox News reported that a source familiar with the situation surrounding the raid told the outlet that “Bolton really had some nerve to attack Trump over his handling of classified information,” but did not elaborate.
Bolton previously criticized Trump’s handling of classified documents following the FBI’s unprecedented 2022 raid on the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The Biden Justice Dept. later indicted on 37 felony counts, a number that eventually grew to 40 before the case was dismissed in July 2024.
