BBC News, White House
FBI agents searched the home and office of Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser John Bolton on Friday, as part of an apparent investigation into the handling of classified information.
The high-profile Republican aide has been a vocal critic of Trump since quitting his first administration in 2019, and was previously accused by the White House of misusing classified information in his 2020 account of working with the president.
The FBI has not commented in detail but sources familiar with the search told CBS News it was related in part to classified documents.
Bolton – who is yet to comment on the investigation – has not been detained and no criminal charges have been filed.
Asked by reporters what the investigation was about, Trump said he did not “want to get involved” in the matter, but referred to Bolton as a “sleazebag”. The president said he had not directly ordered the searches.
In an interview with NBC News, Vice President JD Vance said classified documents are “certainly part of [the investigation]” and also alluded to “broad concern” about Bolton, without offering further detail.
He said the FBI would only bring a case against Bolton if “they determine that he has broken the law” and said the investigation was not politically motivated, as Democratic politicians have claimed.
Police vehicles and FBI personnel were seen at Bolton’s home in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland on Friday morning, some of whom were seen taking boxes inside the property.
In a statement sent to CBS, the FBI said it was conducting “authorised activity in the area”.
FBI agents were also seen at Bolton’s office in Washington DC.
Bolton returned to his Maryland home on Friday afternoon but did not speak to reporters outside.
Getty ImagesIn 2020, Bolton authored The Room Where it Happened, a memoir recounting his time working in the first Trump administration between 2018 and 2019, which was fiercely critical of the president.
In it, he wrote that “a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be president”.
The justice department accused Bolton of a “flagrant breach” of an agreement to not disclose classified matters, but the lawsuit was dropped in June 2021, by which time Joe Biden was president.
Around the time the searches began, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X “no one is above the law”. The post did not refer to Bolton specifically.
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared the post and added: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
Bolton – who served as George W Bush’s UN ambassador – had his Secret Service protection stripped by the Trump administration in January, along with several other former officials who have clashed with the president.
Bolton has also publicly questioned the administration’s handling of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Trump has been highly critical of Bolton in public, accusing him of pushing for US military intervention overseas during his time as national security adviser.
Other Trump adversaries – including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff – have also been subjected to investigations since he returned to office.
