FBI agents raided the Maryland home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday morning as part of a national security investigation involving classified documents, according to multiple reports.
The raid began at approximately 7 a.m. at Bolton’s residence in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington D.C. Federal agents also searched his office Friday morning.
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the investigation, according to a Trump administration official who spoke to the New York Post. The probe examines multiple instances of the use of classified documents in leaks to news media.
“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” Patel wrote on X shortly after the raid began, without specifically referencing the Bolton investigation.
Attorney General Pam Bondi retweeted Patel’s message, adding “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted separately, writing “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
An FBI official confirmed that agents were “conducting court authorized activity in the area” with “no threat to public safety,” indicating a federal magistrate judge had approved a search warrant for Bolton’s residence.
Bolton was not detained or charged with any crimes. A woman who appeared to be Bolton’s wife, Gretchen Smith Bolton, was present at the residence during the search.
The investigation into Bolton began during the Biden administration but did not proceed further before President Joe Biden left office in January. Critics say the Biden administration shut down the probe “for political reasons.” The FBI suspects the shutdown was politically motivated.
Feds: *Knock knock*
John Bolton: Who’s there?
Feds: War with Iran.
John Bolton: 😃
Feds: just kidding
John Bolton: 😡
pic.twitter.com/cAVsQ0d3EP— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) August 22, 2025
The current investigation stems from a probe that began in 2020, the same year the Trump Justice Department launched a criminal inquiry into Bolton’s alleged disclosure of classified information in his memoir “The Room Where It Happened.”
Bolton published the book in 2020 despite Trump administration efforts to block its release. The Justice Department sued Bolton that year, with a department lawyer telling a judge the book was “a flagrant breach of” Bolton’s agreement not to write about classified matters. The Biden administration dropped the lawsuit in June 2021.
The raid comes amid escalating tensions between Bolton and President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly criticized his former national security adviser on Truth Social, calling him one of the “fired losers and really dumb people” quoted in media coverage.
“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin. Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won,'” Trump wrote on August 13. “What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING.”
After his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump wrote on August 17: “This war can be ended, NOW, but stupid people like [Sen.] Chris Murphy, John Bolton, and others, make it much harder to do so.”
Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019 during the president’s first term. Since leaving the administration, he has become a vocal critic of Trump’s foreign policy and national security decisions, regularly appearing on cable news programs.
Patel has included Bolton in a list of what he called “members of the executive branch deep state.” The FBI director has pledged to rid the federal government of corruption and expose cover-ups since taking office.
Bolton previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration. In the foreword to his memoir, Bolton wrote that “a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be President.”
Federal investigators are examining if Bolton’s actions violated laws on the handling of classified materials and whether his disclosures to journalists constituted criminal leaks of sensitive government information.