The FBI conducted a court-authorized search Friday at former national security adviser John Bolton’s home and office as part of a renewed investigation into whether he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The investigative step immediately drew criticism that President Donald Trump was using the muscle of the US government to target a political foe, though the specific basis for the searches was not clear.
Bolton served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser in his first term, but the president fired him in 2019 and the two have been sharply at odds ever since. Trump had previously threatened to jail Bolton over the 2020 book, which was critical of Trump’s foreign policy knowledge, and the Justice Department investigated him in Trump’s first-term. That probe was closed under President Joe Biden.
Since Trump’s return to office, Bolton has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of his foreign policy and ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine, often deriding the president for his perceived deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
CNN observed FBI personnel at Bolton’s house in the Washington, DC, area on Friday morning. They were seen speaking to a person on the porch of the house, and at least four to six agents were seen going inside. Some of the agents took bags out of the vehicles to bring inside, but nothing was seen coming out of the residence.
The FBI also was searching Bolton’s office on Friday morning, according to a source. CNN saw several unmarked federal vehicles outside the building in downtown Washington.
While the searches stemmed from the Justice Department reopening the years-old investigation involving the book, investigators are also exploring other possible leaks as a form of “weaponization,” a source said.
Asked about the search on Friday, Trump told reporters he knew “nothing about it.” He added that he expected the Justice Department to brief him likely later in the day and suggested he had the power to initiate law enforcement moves.
“I don’t want to know about it. It’s not necessary. I could know about it. I could be the one starting it, and I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel that it’s better this way,” he said, before calling Bolton a “low life.”
“When I hired him, he served a good purpose, because, as you know, he was one of the people that forced Bush to do the ridiculous bombings in the Middle East. Bolton, he wants to always kill people, and he’s very bad at what he does, but he worked out great for me,” Trump said.
Vice President JD Vance later said in an interview for Meet the Press with Kristen Welker that “classified documents are certainly part” of the motivation behind the investigation, “but I think that there’s a broad concern about, about Ambassador Bolton.”
Vance denied that the search was politically motivated, characterizing it as part of an evidence-gathering operation “driven by the law and not by politics.”
“If they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determine that he has broken the law,” he said. “We’re going to be deliberate about that, because we don’t think that we should throw people — even if they disagree with us politically, maybe especially if they disagree with us politically — you shouldn’t throw people willy-nilly in prison.”
Reached by CNN earlier on Friday, Bolton said he was unaware of the FBI activity and was looking into it further. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The search at Bolton’s house was first reported by the New York Post. The FBI declined to comment on it.
An FBI agent work outside the home of John Bolton in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump’s fraught history with Bolton
Trump has repeatedly gone after his former national security adviser while in office, including most recently saying this month that the media was “constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton.”
The president also terminated Bolton’s Secret Service detail within hours of starting his second term in January.
During his first term, the president threatened to jail Bolton after his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened,” claimed Trump was woefully under-informed on matters of foreign policy and obsessed with shaping his media legacy. The book also reported that Trump asked the leaders of Ukraine and China to help him win the 2020 election.
The book included material that initially was cleared for publication by career officials at the White House, but Trump political appointees sought to overturn that approval.
