The FBI raided the Maryland home of former US National Security Adviser John Bolton as part of a high-profile national security investigation into his handling of classified information. The operation took place early on Friday morning at John Bolton’s residence in Bethesda, just outside Washington, the New York Post reported.
FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to confirm the raid with a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission."
Classified Documents Inquiry Against John Bolton
The investigation is said to relate to classified documents, a probe that was initially launched during the Donald Trump administration but later halted under US President Joe Biden.
John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, has faced past scrutiny over his 2020 memoir The Room Where It Happened. The book prompted accusations that it contained sensitive national security information, though legal efforts by the Donald Trump administration to block its publication failed.
The Justice Department subsequently opened an inquiry into whether John Bolton had breached non-disclosure agreements by publishing classified material.
Political Backdrop
The raid comes amid wider controversy over the handling of classified documents by former officials. It follows comments this week by Kash Patel alleging that former FBI Director James Comey authorised leaks of government documents during the 2016 election campaign.
Kash Patel, a former Donald Trump aide appointed to lead the FBI earlier this year, has pledged to root out corruption and expose what he describes as cover-ups within the federal government.
John Bolton has not commented publicly on the raid. Since leaving the Trump administration, he has frequently criticised the US President’s national security and foreign policy record.
Earlier, he criticised Washington’s handling of ties with India, calling its policy “confused" and questioning punitive tariffs imposed on New Delhi while Beijing escapes similar measures. John Bolton said the India-US relationship is currently in “a very bad place" and warned that New Delhi risks being pushed closer to Moscow and Beijing, adding, “Leaving India hanging out to dry as the only country to which punitive action has been taken obviously leads a lot of people to conclude that the United States has given up on India. I do worry that India is being driven closer to Russia and China."
Source: News18