FBI officers are searching the house of former US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton on 22 August. This is reported by US media, in particular CNN, citing sources. Officially, the reasons for the search have not yet been announced.
The search is taking place in the suburbs of Washington, the New York Post was the first to report on it. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote that agency employees were “on assignment” and that “no one is above the law,” but did not explicitly confirm that the post was related to the Bolton search. The FBI said the agents were “acting with court authorisation” and also did not provide details.
According to CNN, the search may be related to suspected illegal handling of national security information. In 2020, a year after Trump fired him from his post during his first term, Bolton published a book in which he sharply criticised his former boss. Trump administration officials demanded the removal of a number of passages from the book, claiming that Bolton revealed confidential details in them. A formal investigation was launched against Bolton, but it was stopped by the next president, Joe Biden
Since Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, members of his administration, including law enforcement officials appointed at his initiative, have made accusations against Trump’s political opponents and those they claim illegally prosecuted Trump himself when he lost power. Bolton, who has not held a government position since 2019, has criticised Trump for, among other things, not being tough enough on Russia.
President Trump has said he knows nothing about the searches of his former adviser
Bolton himself has not yet commented on the searches.