By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — The FBI’s search of former Donald Trump national security adviser John Bolton’s home last month was part of a criminal investigation into the unauthorized removal and retention of classified records and the improper gathering, transmitting or losing of national defense information, according to paperwork the Justice Department made public in court on Thursday.

During the search of Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home, FBI agents removed typed documents in folders labeled “Trump I-IV” and a white binder labeled “statements and reflections to allied strikes …,” the records say. They also collected two iPhones, four computers and hard drives and two USB drives.

A court had authorized the FBI to seek out documents that might have been classified related to Bolton’s former position as national security adviser during Trump’s first term in office, among other things. The agents were also permitted to press Bolton’s fingers onto devices if his fingerprints were needed to unlock them, or hold the devices in front of his face for facial recognition unlocking, the warrant documents say. (Bolton was not at home during the search.)

Bolton has not been charged with a crime.

A lawyer for Bolton on Thursday described the documents taken as “ordinary records of a 40-year career serving this country at the State Department, as an Assistant Attorney General, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, and National Security Advisor.”

Since the search of his home, Bolton has retained well-known white collar attorney Abbe Lowell, who recently has chartered legal approaches for several clients publicly pushing back against the Trump administration or who’ve become the subject of both investigations and Trump’s political attacks.

“Any thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton,” Lowell said in a statement Thursday, the first public response Bolton’s team has made addressing the substance of the search.

The disclosure came on Thursday in response to a request in court from media outlets including CNN and sheds some light on the reasons for the search.

The investigation relates to disclosures Bolton may have made in publishing a book about the president’s handling of foreign policy in his first term. Bolton had battled with Trump national security officials over what classified information might have been in the book, removing much of it before his manuscript was published, previous court records say.

The charges investigators are looking at, if they were to be proven in court, carry potentially steep consequences, including possible lengthy prison terms.

A federal magistrate judge in Maryland’s Greenbelt courthouse approved the search warrant application, which includes descriptions of allegations from an FBI agent and the identification of which possible criminal violations prosecutors may be considering.

The records have some redactions, however, and the Justice Department has said a criminal investigation in ongoing, and “law enforcement is actively reviewing evidence and interviewing witnesses,” according to the court filings made public on Thursday.

This story has been updated with a response from Bolton’s attorney.

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