Former national security adviser in the Trump administration, John Bolton, was indicted on Thursday in a federal investigation for possible mismanagement of classified information.
The investigation into Bolton, who served for more than a year in President Donald Trump's first administration before being fired in 2019, became public in August when the FBI raided his Maryland home and Washington office for classified documents he may have kept from his years in government.
The existence of the indictment was confirmed to the AP by a person familiar with the matter, who could not speak publicly about the charges and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Agents seized several documents labeled "classified," "confidential" and "secret" from Bolton's office during the August raid, according to court documents.
"Some of the seized documents appeared to relate to weapons of mass destruction, national 'strategic communications' and the US mission to the United Nations," the documents said.
The indictment sets up a trial that will be eagerly awaited and focuses on a figure long known in Republican foreign policy circles, who is known for his tough stances on American power.
Bolton, after leaving the first Trump administration, became a vocal and visible critic of the president.
Although the investigation that led to the indictment began before Trump's second term, the investigation is taking place at a time when there are widespread concerns that the Justice Department is being used as a tool to attack the president's political opponents.