Federal investigators revealed disturbing new details about an Iranian hacking operation that targeted former National Security Advisor John Bolton, taunting him as “Mr. Mustache” while threatening to leak allegedly classified material stolen from his personal email. The Iranian hackers reportedly contacted Bolton’s assistant in July 2021, claiming to possess sensitive information and warning that the contents “could be the biggest scandal since Hillary’s emails were leaked.”
According to an unsealed affidavit reviewed by Fox News Digital, Bolton’s assistant alerted the FBI after receiving a series of emails tied to the hack. One message read, “OK John… as you want (apparently), we’ll disseminate the expurgated sections of your book by reference to your leaked email. Good luck Mr. Mustache!” The threats followed the compromise of Bolton’s AOL account, which investigators believe was orchestrated by a foreign entity linked to Iran.
Court documents also detail Bolton’s handling of classified material during and after his tenure in the Trump administration. Federal agents found that a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) had been built inside his home in 2018 and later decertified in 2019. Despite losing his security clearance, Bolton allegedly sought to reinstall the SCIF and retained classified documents, according to prosecutors.
Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty in October to 18 federal counts, including transmission and retention of national defense information. The indictment claims Bolton shared more than a thousand pages of top-secret material with unauthorized individuals. FBI Director Kash Patel stated, “The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top-secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law.”
