FBI agents raided the home of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday morning.
The raid against Trump’s former adviser turned nemesis is part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records,” a source told NBC News.
In a statement to NBC News, an FBI official added: “The FBI is conducting court authorized activity.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The longtime Republican adviser and diplomat has previously been accused of leaking classified material, but investigations into his tell-all book The Room Where It Happened went nowhere.
Bolton appeared on the Daily Beast Podcast on Monday and took aim directly at Trump, claiming he is the world’s worst negotiator.
The dawn raid in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., was trumpeted with an X message from FBI director Kash Patel, who wrote, ”NO ONE is above the law.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi retweeted the post, adding: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
Images from the scene show Bolton’s wife, Gretchen Smith Bolton, answering the door to FBI agents while still in her bathrobe.
After getting dressed, Smith Bolton could be spotted looking weary as she walked away from her home while it was searched by agents.
An FBI spokesman told the Daily Beast, “We don’t have any comment.” That did not stop FBI deputy director Dan Bongino from joining the social media pile-on with a message that read: “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
Bongino’s words had ominous echoes of politically motivated judicial attacks the world over, though NBC News source claimed the raid was part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records.”
Bolton, a GOP hawk, was appointed national security adviser by Trump in 2018, but he lasted less than two years in the post.
Trump’s Justice Department tried and failed to block publication of Bolton’s subsequent memoir, which claimed that Trump was “unfit to be president.”
In an updated paperback edition, Bolton predicted that the president would use his second term to carry out vengeance against his enemies. “Trump really cares only about retribution for himself, and it will consume much of a second term,” he wrote.
Bolton has become a frequent critic of Trump ever since he was fired by the president during his first term.
That includes taking part in multiple media interviews criticizing Trump for agreeing to meet Vladimir Putin on U.S. soil, saying the Russian leader had “already won” optics and mind games ahead of the flop Alaska summit.
That line of attack infuriated Trump, who lashed out at the “very unfair media“ on Truth Social and asked why they were ”quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton" to condemn the meeting in Anchorage.
On Monday’s Daily Beast Podcast, chief creative and content officer Joanna Coles asked Bolton about Trump continuing to attack him online. “I’m glad the president is still thinking about me. If he can’t stand the heat he should get out of the kitchen,” he said.
