Federal agents were seen on Friday morning registering the residence of Maryland and Washington, DC, the Trump National Security Advisor’s office, John Bolton, according to ABC News.
The familiar sources with the matter told ABC News that the search, carried out by the FBI, is related to accusations that Bolton is in possession of classified records.
“No one is above the law … @fbi agents on mission”, director of the FBI Kash Patel Said on social networks.
It was not immediately clear what confidential records believe that federal researchers believe Bolton could have possessed.
Federal agents, along with approximately six FBI vehicles, were seen in Bolton’s house for more than an early hour this morning, around 7 am, the Montgomery County Local Police was observed by ABC News blocking both tickets to Bolton Street, but since then it left.
The agents were seen entering and leaving the house and it is not yet clear if something was removed from Bolton’s house.
FBI agents take boxes to former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s House, August. 22, 2025, in Bethesda, MD.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Images
The extraordinary movement occurs when President Donald Trump has recently increased pressure on the Department of Justice to present charges against his political opponents.
Bolton has long been the goal of Trump’s anger. More recently, Trump has pointed Bolton’s criticism to Trump’s commitments with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump told reporters on Friday morning that he didn’t know about the search for the FBI in Bolton’s house.
When asked if he expected the Department of Justice to inform him in the search, Trump said “probably” would give him updates “today”, but added that he did not want to know about the details.
“You have to do what you have to do. I don’t want to know,” Trump said in reference to the attorney general Pam Bondi and other officials involved in the investigation.
“The United States security is not negotiable,” Bondi said in a response to the previous publication of Patel on social networks. “Justice will be followed. Always.”
An FBI agent walks to the main entrance of the Trump National Security Advisor’s office, John Bolton, the Washington office, on August 22, 2025.
Julia DeMaree Nikhinson/AP
A federal magistrate judge in Maryland signed the search in Bolton’s house, the sources said.
Another federal magistrate judge in Washington had authorized the search for his office of the DC center, according to Fuentes.
To obtain a search warrant, researchers must have a probable cause of a violation of the federal law.
That means that the authorities would have to convince a judge that there is a sufficient reason based on known events to believe that a crime has been committed, or that a certain property is related to a crime.
The search, however, does not mean that prosecutors have determined that Bolton committed a crime.
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
