John Boltons home raided by federal agents
Fox News’ David Spunt provides details on the FBI raid at former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton’s home in Maryland as FBI Director Kash Patel tweets, NO ONE is above the law.
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FBI agents raided the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Friday morning, Fox News Digital has learned.
Fox News Digital later spotted agents at Bolton’s Washington, D.C., office removing boxes and Bolton was seen in the lobby of the building.
The searches are focused on potential classified documents agents believe Bolton may still possess, according to one source.
Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, is not in custody or under arrest.
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Federal agents raided the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Friday morning, according to two senior government enforcement sources briefed on the matter. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Federal agents reportedly busted into Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Maryland, at around 7 a.m. local time in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, who took to X with a cryptic post minutes later.
“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” he wrote without directly referencing the raid.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared the post and wrote, “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi also warned, “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
WATCH: FBI agents load boxes into a car after searching John Bolton’s DC office
CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided Patel with limited access to U.S. intelligence that served as the basis for the search warrant, a source familiar with the Bolton raid and the evidence used to justify it told Fox News Digital.
“I can’t give you any more details than that, but let’s just say that John Bolton really had some nerve to attack Trump over his handling of classified information,” the source told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital called Bolton’s office for comment. A staffer answered, said, “Have a nice day,” and then hung up.
The probe into classified documents was first launched years ago but later shut down by the Biden administration “for political reasons,” according to a senior U.S. official.
The Justice Department under Trump’s first administration argued that Bolton’s 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” contained classified material and sought to block its publication. A federal judge ultimately allowed the book to be published.
FBI agents outside the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Aug. 22, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
FBI agents are seen loading boxes into a vehicle after searching the D.C. office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Aug. 22, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
Justice Department lawyers argued the book contained classified national security information covering areas like U.S. intelligence sources and methods, foreign policy deliberations and conversations with foreign leaders.
In June 2021, the Biden Justice Department abandoned both a criminal inquiry and civil lawsuit against Bolton over the memoir, ending the legal battle at that time.
FBI agents load bags into a vehicle after conducting a search at the Washington, D.C., office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Aug. 22, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
An FBI agent carries a box outside John Bolton’s D.C. office after a search on Aug. 22, 2025, connected to a classified documents probe. (Fox News Digital)
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Bolton’s attorney said at the time that a senior career official in charge of the NSC’s prepublication review process conducted a four-month prepublication review of the book and, after requiring a number of revisions, concluded that it contained no classified information.
The book contained a damning account of the Trump White House, alleging that Trump once “pleaded” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to aid his re-election campaign, among other missteps.
Trump ousted Bolton from his first administration in 2019 because they “disagreed strongly” on policy.
Then-national security advisor John Bolton listens as President Donald Trump meets with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands in the Oval Office at the White House on July 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Bolton, known for his hawkish and interventionist approach to foreign policy, has both praised and criticized Trump since leaving his first administration.
He criticized Trump’s handling of classified documents, which led to an FBI raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 and a subsequent federal indictment. Trump was initially indicted on 37 felony counts, later expanded to 40, but the case was ultimately dismissed in July 2024.
In 2022, Bolton said Trump lacked the competence and character to be president.
However, Bolton strongly backed Trump’s military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, calling it “a decisive action,” “the right thing to do,” and praising its potential to generate “huge change in the Middle East.”
Trump, meanwhile, has often criticized Bolton for pushing U.S. involvement in wars in the Middle East.
Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush from August 2005 to December 2006.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Montgomery County police block a road near the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton during an FBI search on Aug. 22, 2025. (Fox News Digital)