The FBI is searching the Maryland home of John Bolton, who served in President Donald Trump's first administration as national security adviser but later became critical of the president, as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
Bolton was not detained and has not been charged with any crimes, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton and the White House were not immediately returned. A lawyer who has represented Bolton had no immediate comment.
The Justice Department also had no comment, but leaders appeared to cryptically refer to the search of Bolton's home in a series of social media posts Friday morning.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who in a 2023 book he wrote included Bolton in a list of “members of the Executive Branch Deep State,” posted on X: “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.” Attorney General Pam Bondi shared his post, adding: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.”
In an ABC interview earlier this month, Bolton was asked about whether he was worried about the Trump administration taking action against him. Bolton said Trump had “already come after” him by taking away his security detail, and he added: “I think it is a retribution presidency.”
Bolton has criticised Washington’s decision to impose a 25% tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil, while sparing China, calling the policy “confused.” In an interview with Hindustan Times, Bolton warned that the move risked pushing New Delhi closer to Moscow and Beijing.
He said India was “singled out” despite sanctions not preventing purchases below the USD 60 per barrel cap, and argued that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lacked international experience in assessing the Russia-China axis.
Bolton described Donald Trump as an “aberrational president” whose tariff decisions had damaged trust with India. He said the abrupt imposition of a 25% Liberation Day tariff, followed by another 25% over Russian oil imports, disrupted ongoing negotiations and left relations “in a very bad place.”
“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,” Bolton said, warning that repairing decades of bilateral goodwill would take time.
Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser, clashed with him on Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea, and later drew scrutiny over his memoir The Room Where It Happened.
The Department of Justice dropped a lawsuit and probe into the book in 2021, though Trump revoked Bolton’s security clearances on returning to office this year. A former UN ambassador under George W. Bush, Bolton has long been a hawk on foreign policy and survived a 2022 Iranian plot to assassinate him.
Bolton had earlier also warned that punitive tariffs imposed on India could backfire strategically, reiterating that this will push New Delhi closer to Russia and China, the very outcome decades of American diplomacy have sought to avoid.
In an interview with CNN earlier in July, Bolton had said, “Trump's tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, but they could push India closer to Russia and to China to oppose these tariffs."
He warned that Trump’s leniency toward China while taking a heavy-handed approach with India was undermining long-term U.S. interests.
“Trump’s leniency on the Chinese, and heavy-handed tariffs on India, jeopardise decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China,” Bolton said.
In April, Trump briefly escalated a trade war with China, only to pause further action, pending a potential deal.
Meanwhile, he announced on July 30 a 25% tariff rate on Indian imports—a significant hike from the previous average of 2.4%. India also faces an additional tariff of 25% due to its continued purchases of Russian oil, which Trump argues funds the ‘war in Ukraine.’ Trump also criticised India’s acquisition of Russian military equipment.
In his op-ed for The Hill, Bolton had called Trump’s trade policy “an enormous mistake and entirely counterproductive for America.” He emphasised that levying tariffs on both allies and adversaries erodes long-standing diplomatic capital with friendly nations such as India.
“The US, by levying tariffs on friend and foe alike, has likely suffered a considerable loss of trust and confidence, built up over decades of effort, in exchange for minimal economic gains — if any — and the risk of formidable losses,” he wrote.
(With inputs from Associated Press)