By Steve Holland, Brendan O’Brien and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -FBI agents searched the home of John Bolton, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump turned persistent critic, on Friday as part of a national security probe, a source briefed on the matter said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents began searching his house in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, at 7 a.m. as part of a probe ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, according to the New York Post, which first reported the raid.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed “court authorized activity” in the area of Bolton’s home.
“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” Patel wrote, without mentioning Bolton, in an X post shortly after 7 a.m.
Bolton could not immediately be reached for comment. CNN reported that he said he was unaware of the law enforcement activity and was looking into it further.
Bolton served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and as the White House national security adviser during Trump’s first term in office. He has since become a critic of the Republican president, calling him unfit to serve and writing a scathing book about his time in Trump’s first administration.
Trump has repeatedly moved to wield the levers of presidential power against his perceived enemies since taking office in January, following his campaign promise of political retribution.
It was not immediately clear why the FBI was searching the property. The Justice Department during Trump’s first term sued and started a criminal investigation into Bolton over allegations that the book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” contained classified information.
A judge rejected the administration’s bid to block publication of the book in 2020. Both the criminal investigation and lawsuit were dropped in 2021 during the Biden administration.
The president previously stripped Bolton of protective Secret Service detail that had been assigned after the U.S. Justice Department said Iran had threatened his life.
Bolton has continued his criticism of Trump since he returned to office. After Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week, Bolton told CNN that Putin “clearly won” the summit and while Trump “did not lose” he looked “very tired” and there was no meaningful progress on ending the war in Ukraine.
Bolton has also been critical of Trump-nominated FBI Director Kash Patel, telling NBC’s “Meet The Press” in December that the Senate should reject his nomination “100-0.” Patel was later confirmed.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Andrew Goudsward in Washington and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Porter)
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