FBI Conducts Court-Authorized Search at John Bolton’s Home and Office in Renewed Classified Information Leak Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a court-ordered search at the home and office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book. Sources familiar with the matter confirmed this development.

The search, which took place on Friday morning, sparked criticism suggesting political targeting, although the specific rationale for the searches remains unclear.

Bolton served as President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor during his first term in 2019 but was subsequently fired and has since had a contentious relationship with the former president. Trump previously threatened to prosecute Bolton over his 2020 book, which was critical of Trump’s foreign policy knowledge, and the Department of Justice investigated him during Trump’s first term. However, the investigation was closed under President Joe Biden.

FBI agents were observed at Bolton’s residence in the Washington, DC area on Friday morning, engaging in conversation with a person on the porch and entering the house with approximately four to six agents. Agents were also seen taking bags from their vehicles and bringing them inside, but no items emerged from the residence.

Additionally, the FBI was searching Bolton’s office on Friday morning, according to a source. Several unmarked federal vehicles were observed at a building in downtown Washington.

While the searches are primarily related to the Justice Department reopening the years-old investigation concerning Bolton’s book, investigators are also exploring potential leaks as a form of “weaponization,” a source revealed.

When contacted by CNN earlier on Friday, Bolton expressed ignorance about the FBI activity and stated he was looking into it further. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment at the time of reporting.

The search at Bolton’s residence was initially reported by The New York Post, with the FBI declining to comment on the matter.

When asked about the search on Friday, Trump stated he knew “nothing about it.” However, he suggested that he expected the Department of Justice to brief him later in the day and indicated his capacity to initiate law enforcement actions.

“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.

Trump later referred to Bolton as a “low life” and stated that Bolton served a purpose during his presidency due to his role in pushing for Bush’s bombings in the Middle East. However, Trump expressed dissatisfaction with Bolton’s performance and criticized him for his propensity to advocate for violence and poor work ethic.

Trump has repeatedly criticized his former national security advisor while in office, including recently labeling the media as “constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton.”

The president also terminated Bolton’s Secret Service detail within hours of beginning his second term in January.

During his first term, Trump threatened to prosecute Bolton after his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened,” claimed Trump was poorly 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.

The Justice Department investigated Bolton over the possibility that he “unlawfully disclosed classified information” in his memoir, though officials under former President Joe Biden closed the investigation and dropped a related lawsuit in 2021 connected to the publication of the book.

In recent months, Trump and his administration have been involved in a campaign of retribution against a wide range of perceived political enemies, including former officials, members of Congress, and prosecutors who brought cases against the president while he was out of office.

Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel declassified and released internal FBI interview notes from a former House Intelligence Committee staffer who first accused Rep. Adam Schiff in 2017 of directing illegal leaks of classified information about Trump and Russia.

The Justice Department also opened a grand jury investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James this month over the civil actions she brought against Trump and the National Rifle Association.

The public nature of the FBI search at Bolton’s residence, with agents wearing readily identifiable “FBI” jackets while entering and exiting the house throughout the morning and key officials sharing comments on social media, has led some to speculate that the search may be politically motivated.

Top FBI officials posted on social media Friday morning just after 7 am. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on Twitter, “NO ONE is above the law … @FBI agents on mission.” The FBI’s co-deputy director Dan Bongino posted, “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”

Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi also reposted Patel’s comment, with Bondi adding, “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”

If the officials are indirectly referring to Bolton, it would represent a departure from the Bureau’s usual practice of refraining from commenting publicly on investigations, particularly since FBI agents are still at the scene.

The hours-long FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for classified records in 2022 was conducted discreetly, with officials operating in plain clothes and keeping the public largely uninformed about the search until it was nearly completed. Patel has since called the Mar-a-Lago search a “total weaponization and politicization by the FBI and DOJ.”

Trump was indicted by a grand jury for mishandling several national security documents he retained after his first term in office, keeping boxes of classified records in a bathroom, a ballroom, and other rooms at his Florida resort, until a Florida-based judge dismissed the case in 2024.

Bolton, a longtime conservative who had previously served in the Reagan and both Bush administrations, has been a political adversary of Trump since leaving the White House in the first term.