The FBI searched the Bethesda, Maryland, home and the Washington office of former Trump National Security Adviser John R. Bolton as part of an investigation into his handling of classified records, according to people familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for Mr. Bolton, who has gone from a top Trump adviser to one of his fiercest critics, declined to comment Friday. An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“NO ONE is above the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on X at 7 a.m. Friday, around the same time the raid began. Attorney General Pam Bondi shared his post and cryptically added, “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
Mr. Bolton has not been charged with any crimes and has not been detained, according to The Associated Press.
The Justice Department during Mr. Trump’s first term sued Mr. Bolton and launched a criminal probe into whether he unlawfully disclosed classified information in his book, which was a scathing critique of the administration. President Biden’s Justice Department dropped the lawsuit and the grand jury investigation in 2021.
Mr. Bolton has long professed his innocence and long claimed the probe was an example of Mr. Trump using the Justice Department to attack his perceived enemies.
Since returning to office, Mr. Trump has targeted his most vocal critics, including Democrats and law firms that had sued his first administration and were involved in lawsuits and investigations into him and his allies.
For example, federal officials have launched mortgage fraud probes into Sen. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Mr. Trump and his company in civil court. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
On his first day in office, Mr. Trump revoked Mr. Bolton’s security clearance as well as his Secret Service protection. Mr. Bolton told ABC News this month that the Trump administration had “already come after” him by taking away his Secret Service protection.
“I think it is a retribution presidency,” he said.
Mr. Bolton was Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser for 17 months and repeatedly clashed with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. He later came under fire by the Trump administration for the book he wrote about his time in the government, which officials said disclosed classified information.
At the time, Mr. Bolton’s lawyers said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Mr. Bolton had worked, had assured him the manuscript did not contain classified information.
In the book, Mr. Bolton portrayed Mr. Trump as grossly ill-informed about foreign policy and said he “saw conspiracies behind rocks.” He said Mr. Trump was “stunningly uninformed” about how to run the White House, much less the government.
Mr. Trump fired back that Mr. Bolton was a “crazy” warmonger hell-bent on leading America into another war.
Prior to his time in the Trump administration, Mr. Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and held national security positions in President Reagan’s administration.
In 2022, an Iranian operative was charged in a plot to kill Mr. Bolton in presumed retaliation for a January 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed one of Iran’s top generals.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.