The FBI searched former national security adviser John Bolton's house in Bethesda, Maryland, early Friday morning, the bureau confirmed to CBS News.
"The FBI is conducting court authorized activity in the area," the FBI said in a statement. "There is no threat to public safety. We have no further comment."
Sources familiar with the search told CBS News it is related in part to a classified documents investigation.
FBI agents were also seen exiting a downtown Washington, D.C., building where Bolton's political action committee, John Bolton PAC, is located. Late Friday morning, the FBI confirmed agents were on site at his office for "court authorized activity." The Associated Press reported that after the search at Bolton's home had begun, he was seen in the lobby of the building, talking to two people wearing FBI vests. Agents were seen taking bags into the office building through a back entrance.
Bolton did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him. The New York Post first reported Bolton's home was being searched by the FBI.
President Trump claimed Friday that he only found out about the search of Bolton's house when he saw it on TV. During a brief visit to the People's House museum, he told reporters he thought he'd be briefed on it by the Justice Department "probably sometime today." The president called Bolton"not very smart" and said that "we're gonna find out" if he's "a very unpatriotic guy."
He claims that he tells AG Bondi and others "I don't want to know" and "you have to do what you have to do," adding that he "could be the one starting it" but feels it's better coming from DOJ.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not respond to immediate requests for comment. As the search was underway, top U.S. law enforcement officials posted on social media.
"NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission," FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X, at 7:03 a.m. Attorney General Pam Bondi shared Patel's post at 7:45 a.m., commenting, "America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always."
Bolton served as national security adviser during Mr. Trump's first term, but resigned — or was asked to resign by Mr. Trump — after serving in the job for 17 months.
During Mr. Trump's first term, Bolton wrote a book about his tenure as national security adviser, "The Room Where It Happened," which portrayed Mr. Trump in an unflattering light. The first Trump administration tried to stop the publication of the book and later sued him for the profits. The Justice Department opened a criminal inquiry into whether Bolton had published classified information, claiming he had failed to complete a prepublication review.
In June 2020, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth denied the Justice Department's effort to stop the publication of Bolton's book, but after reviewing the classified materials at issue, said in his ruling that Bolton "likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations."
"Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States," Lamberth also wrote. "He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability."
In November 2020, Mr. Trump claimed that Bolton "illegally released much Classified Information" in his book. He called Bolton "a lowlife who should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly Classified information," in another social media post.
The Biden administration later closed the investigation into Bolton and dropped the lawsuit against him.
Within 24 hours of Mr. Trump's inauguration for his second term, his administration removed Bolton's U.S. Secret Service protection. Bolton had been granted the protection by the Biden administration in December 2021, after a series of threats from Iran that were linked to retaliation for a drone strike ordered by Mr. Trump during Bolton's tenure. That strike resulted in the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
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