FBI agents carried out an early-morning operation at the home of Donald Trump’s former National Security adviser, John Bolton.
Federal officers raided Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Maryland, around 7 a.m. local time on Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into the handling of classified documents.
Senior White House officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AP that Bolton has not been detained or charged in connection with the probe.
Highlights
- FBI raided John Bolton’s Maryland home at 7 a.m. as part of a classified documents investigation; Bolton was not detained or charged.
- Investigation into Bolton dates back years, but was paused by the Biden administration for alleged political reasons, per reports.
- FBI Director Kash Patel posted, “NO ONE is above the law,” signaling the seriousness of the operation, without official FBI comment.
- Bolton, Trump’s former National Security adviser and critic, previously faced DOJ attempts to block his memoir over classified info.
The FBI raided John Bolton’s home early Friday morning
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Another senior official told the New York Post, which first reported on the search, that the investigation was launched years ago, but the Biden administration shut it down for “political reasons.”
The FBI has not officially commented on the raid. However, its director, Kash Patel, posted a cryptic message on social media shortly afterward.
“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” Patel wrote on X.
His message was reshared by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who captioned her post: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
Bolton served under Trump for 17 months as his third National Security adviser in 2018 and 2019, but he is now a frequent critic of the U.S. president.
He told CNN that he was not at home nor aware of the FBI activity at his residence and would be looking into it.
Bolton was seen talking to two people wearing FBI vests in the lobby of a Washington building where he has an office as the raid was ongoing, AP reported.
During Trump’s first term, the pair clashed over Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea.
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Bolton was seen to have a more “hawkish” view on foreign policy than Trump, with media reports at the time stating Trump viewed his approach as militant.
Internally, Bolton was critical of Trump potentially holding talks with the leaders of Iran and the Taliban, according to PBS.
He was reportedly behind a last-minute campaign to stop Trump from brokering a peace deal with Taliban leaders at Camp David in 2019.
While Trump did scrap that deal, the president was angry about how it played out, according to reports.
Trump and Bolton clashed on foreign policy
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In a statement on social media, Trump said he had informed Bolton that his services were no longer needed, as he “disagreed strongly” with many of his suggestions.
Bolton hit back in his own post, saying he had offered to resign, but Trump told him, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
After Bolton left Trump’s administration in 2019, he penned a memoir about his time in government, titled The Room Where It Happened.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to block its publication over claims that Bolton included classified information in the book and violated a non-disclosure agreement.
Their attempts to stop Bolton’s memoir from hitting the shelves ultimately failed, with the DOJ dropping a lawsuit and scrapping a separate grand-jury investigation.
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The book portrayed Trump as an incompetent leader who was not well-educated on foreign policy.
Bolton said Trump “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.”
In response to the allegations made in the book, Trump described Bolton as crazy and a warmonger.
As the raid was taking place at his home, a post on Bolton’s X account criticized Trump’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war.
It is not clear if this was a scheduled post.
“Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer,” Bolton wrote.
“Zelensky will never do so. Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don’t see these talks making any progress.”
When he retook office in January of this year, Trump revoked the security clearance of over 40 former intelligence personnel, including Bolton.
Bolton was also among a number of former Trump officials who had their security details cancelled earlier this year by the president.