An investigation into John Bolton is characterized as long-running and said to have picked up momentum during the Biden administration. That characterization is grounded in intelligence collection of emails purportedly sent by Bolton to family members and close associates. The collected messages appeared to include information derived from classified documents Bolton encountered as national security adviser. The messages were shared with people helping compile material for Bolton's 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened. National security officials briefed FBI leadership and concluded that the transcribed material contained classified information, prompting investigative action.
The emails in question, according to the people, were sent by Mr. Bolton and included information that appeared to derive from classified documents he had seen while he was national security adviser. Mr. Bolton apparently sent the messages to people close to him who were helping him gather material that he would ultimately use in his 2020 memoir, "The Room Where It Happened."
During Mr. Trump's second term, John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, briefed Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, on the information that had been collected about Mr. Bolton's emails. The officials believed that the material Mr. Bolton had transcribed into the unclassified and unsecured email contained classified information. Each intelligence agency makes its own determinations about what information is classified, so it is often up to the "originating" agency to decide whether particular pieces of information are classified, and
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