By Tom Ozimek
Contributing Writer
The FBI on Friday morning searched the Maryland home of John Bolton, former national security adviser under President Donald Trump, as part of a classified documents investigation, according to multiple media outlets.
FBI agents were seen entering and exiting Bolton’s residence in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday, carrying boxes.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Associated Press that the search was related in part to a classified documents investigation, with the person speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation.
The FBI did not provide a substantive reply in response to an inquiry seeking comment.
However, the agency told CBS that it is “conducting court-authorized activity in the area,” adding that “there is no threat to public safety” while declining further comment.
FBI Director Kash Patel hinted at the operation in a cryptic post on X, stating: “NO ONE is above the law … @FBI agents on mission.”
Patel’s post was shared by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who wrote, “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi also wrote on X: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the White House Historical Association Museum, Trump said he had not yet been briefed on the raid on Bolton’s home.
“I don’t know about it. I saw it on television this morning. I’m not a fan of John Bolton,” Trump said.
The president said that when he first hired Bolton during his first term in office, Bolton “served a good purpose” because of what Trump described as his hawkish posture.
“I’d walk into a room with him with a foreign country and the foreign country would give me everything because they said, ‘Oh no, they’re going to get blown up because John Bolton is there,’” Trump said.
Trump added that he believes Bolton “could be unpatriotic” and that “we’re going to find out,” referring to the FBI investigation.
Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, livestreamed from the scene, with footage that he shared showing several law enforcement vehicles outside what Wittes said was Bolton’s home.
“The FBI appears to be conducting a search warrant — I assume it is not an arrest — but if there is FBI activity at a house that I believe to be John Bolton’s house in Bethesda and … I assume this is related to the investigation of Bolton’s book and the classified information investigation that took place and I had thought was closed,” Wittes said.
Wittes was referring to Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened,” a memoir of his 17 months as Trump’s national security adviser that the president’s allies have long accused of containing sensitive and potentially classified material. The Trump administration unsuccessfully sought to block its publication in 2020, arguing it jeopardized national security. Bolton has said he obtained verbal clearance from the National Security Council to publish the book.
Trump, in a post on X in 2020, alleged that Bolton “illegally released much classified information” in his book. That same year, Trump said he believes Bolton “should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly classified information.”
Bolton was asked in an ABC interview earlier this month whether he was concerned that the Trump administration could take action against him. He said Trump had “already come after” him by revoking his security detail.
Bolton’s representatives at Bolton PAC for comment on the raid had not responded to a request for comment as of the publication of this story.
Not long after he assumed office for a second term, Trump issued an executive order stripping Bolton of both his security clearance and Secret Service protection, citing what the White House described as “reckless” handling of sensitive information. Trump specifically pointed to the memoir, saying its release “created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed” and undermined the president’s ability to seek candid advice from advisers.
Bolton, who played a key role in the administration’s 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, has since become one of Trump’s most vocal critics.
He opposed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, writing a new foreword to his book in which he said Trump was unfit to be president. The former adviser said there was a risk Trump would pursue a policy of isolationism, withdraw from NATO, curb support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and embolden China to take control of Taiwan.
During his time in the Trump administration, Bolton was a critic of the Iranian regime and influenced a hawkish posture toward Iran that included the 2018 U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
Bolton had also expressed skepticism about the president’s strategy of engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other Trump moves.
He advocated against the president’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria, masterminding a quiet campaign inside the administration and with U.S. allies abroad to persuade Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria as a counter against the remnants of ISIS and as a check against Iranian influence in the region.
Trump fired Bolton in 2019, saying he “disagreed strongly” with many of his suggestions.
