FBI agents on Aug. 22 searched the Bethesda, Maryland, home and Washington, DC, office of John Bolton, who was the national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term, according to multiple media reports.
The New York Post reported that a Trump administration official told the outlet that FBI Director Kash Patel had ordered the investigation of Bolton and that he has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
Patel said in a post on X, “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.”
Reuters reported that “a source familiar with the matter” said the search was part of a national security probe on a potential unauthorized release of classified information.
“The FBI is conducting court authorized activity in the area,” the FBI said in a statement, CBS News reported. “There is no threat to public safety. We have no further comment.”
The Post reported that Trump told reporters the morning of Aug. 22 that Bolton’s “not a smart guy, but he could be a very unpatriotic guy. We’re going to find out.”
According to The Hill, Trump said he was not notified of the search in advance and he expects the Department of Justice to brief him later on Aug. 22.
Charlie Spiering, a political reporter for The Daily Mail, reported in an X post that George Conway, a conservative attorney, was livestreaming outside Bolton’s residence.
As The Hill reported, after Trump was sworn into office for his second term, his administration removed U.S. Secret Service protection and security clearance for Bolton, who had lambasted Trump after he was removed from the administration in 2019 and had written a book, The Room Where It Happened, which was published in June 2020. The book is about his time in the Trump administration.
Before news reports of the search of Bolton’s home and office, Bolton, who was the US ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, criticized Trump and his work on Ukraine-Russia relations in an X post.
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said on Fox and Friends that the penalty for releasing information regarding national defense ranges from five to 20 years, with the maximum typically applicable for concealing information or obstructing justice.
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Author: Mary Stroka
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