On Friday, August 22, at dawn, the FBI showed up at John Bolton's residence to carry out a search and seizure of evidence under a warrant. Cameras quickly gathered outside his house in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC. According to US media outlets, the investigation into the former adviser to Donald Trump is related to the potential mishandling of classified information. A second search also took place at Bolton's office.

Bolton, who served as national security adviser to Trump from 2018 to 2019 and is seen as a neoconservative hawk, left the billionaire's first administration amid controversy. Since then, he became a harsh critic, making frequent appearances on television news networks. Recently, he criticized the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, arguing that Trump had gained nothing and was manipulated by his counterpart. He also noted that the American president appeared "very tired" on screen.

While the details of the case remain unknown, the unprecedented politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI, now seen as serving only Trump, suggested possible retaliation. "No one is above the law," wrote FBI Director Kash Patel on X at 7 am, disregarding the presumption of innocence, even though he did not name Bolton directly. His deputy, Dan Bongino, added: "Public corruption will not be tolerated."

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