FBI searches home of Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton

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.

FBI agents walk outside the home of John Bolton, former Trump national security adviser, after conducting a court-authorized search on Aug. 22, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Bolton served as national security adviser during President 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 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.