The Bolton raid
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The Bolton raid was the FBI search of John Bolton's home and office on 22 August 2025, discussed by John Kiriakou on the DeProgram programme two weeks later.

What was taken

The host set out the reporting: agents took three computers, two iPhones and a quantity of old documents, and the investigation concerned classified material said to have been sent to family members.

The warrant, as read out on the programme, described allegations that Bolton "snuck national security files out of the White House during President Trump's first term by emailing them to family members on a private server", and cited two sections of the Espionage Act.

Kiriakou's reading

His assessment was immediate and, unusually for him on such cases, unsympathetic to the accused. "That is literally the definition of espionage in the Espionage Act."

He attaches his own case to it. "Remember, the definition of espionage was kind of mainstreamed in my case. It set a precedent. It is providing national defense information to any person not entitled to receive it."

His conclusion is that the exposure is real: "So yeah, this is real. He's in real trouble."

Why he thinks Bolton did it

Asked whether the transmission was for bragging or for convenience, Kiriakou's answer was neither: "This is for his memoir ... And I think he probably did it just to make it easier for him to access later."

On the method he is dismissive. Asked whether Bolton was stupid, he corrected the diagnosis: "Arrogant. He's arrogant is what it is. This is arrogance." The comparison he draws is with Edward Snowden, who "used thumb drives", a route that does not pass through a monitored server.

The evidence sticker

The conversation turned to what the FBI habitually takes, and Kiriakou answered from his own experience: "they took everything, which they normally do."

The residue of that is still in front of him. "In fact, on the back of my computer that I'm talking to you through, I still have an FBI sticker on the back that says evidence on it, that at first I couldn't get off, and now I just keep it as a souvenir."

See also

- John Bolton
- Espionage Act
- Edward Snowden
- The FBI raids on Kiriakou's home
- John Kiriakou
