WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI on Friday searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former Trump administration national security adviserJohn Boltonas part of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said. Bolton, who emerged asan outspoken criticof PresidentDonald Trumpafter being fired in 2019 and fought with the first Trump administration over a scathing book he wrote documenting his time in the White House, was not in custody Friday 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. The searches, seemingly the most significant public step the Justice Department has taken against a perceived enemy of the president, are likely to elicit fresh concerns that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to target the Republican's foes. They come as the Trump administration has moved to examine the activities of other critics, including by authorizinga grand jury investigationinto the origins ofthe Trump-Russia probethat dogged Trump for much of his first term, and as FBI and Justice Department leaders signal their loyalty to the president. Speaking to reporters during an unscheduled visit to the White House Historical Association, Trump said he had seen news coverage of Friday's searches and expected to be briefed about it by the Justice Department but also insisted he didn't "want to know about it." "I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I'm actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel that it's better this way," Trump said. Bolton had said in interviews this year that he was mindful that he could be scrutinized, telling the AP in January shortly before Trump took office, "Anybody who ever disagrees with Trump has to worry about retribution. It's a pretty long list." An FBI search like the one at Bolton's properties requires authorization from a federal magistrate judge. It wasn't immediately clear what information authorities submitted to demonstrate that they had probable cause of a crime, though the Justice Department years agolaunched an investigationinto whether Bolton improperly disclosed classified information in a book manuscript he had written. The inquiry was later closed. Vice President JD Vance denied in an NBC News interview on Friday that Bolton was being targeted because of his criticism of Trump, "If there's no crime here, we're not going to prosecute it. If there is a crime here, of course, Ambassador Bolton will get his day in court. That's how it should be." Bolton was in his office building at the time Bolton was not home for the search of his home, but after it started, he was spotted Friday morning standing in the lobby of the Washington building where he keeps an office and talking to two people with "FBI" visible on their vests. He left a few minutes later and appeared to have gone upstairs in the building. Agents were seen taking bags into the office building through a back entrance. Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton were not immediately returned, and a lawyer who has represented Bolton had no immediate comment. The Justice Department had no comment, but leaders appeared to cryptically refer to the searches in a series of social media posts Friday morning. FBI Director Kash Patel, who included Bolton on a list of "members of the Executive Branch Deep State" in a 2023 book he wrote, 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." The Justice Department is separately conducting mortgage fraud investigations intoDemocratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his company, andex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smithfaces an investigation from an independent watchdog office. Schiff and James have vigorously denied any wrongdoing through their lawyers. The Bolton searches also unfolded against the backdrop ofa 2022 search for classified documentsat Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, an action that producedsince-dismissed criminal chargesbut remains the source of outrage for the president and supporters who insist he was unjustly targeted despite the retrieval of top-secret records. Patel said in a Fox Business Channel interview this week that the Mar-a-Lago search represented a "total weaponization and politicization" of the bureau, and Trump himself referenced it on Friday, telling reporters: "I guess his house was raided today, but my house was raided, also." Trump and Bolton have been at odds for years Bolton served as Trump's third national security adviser for 17 months and clashed with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. He faced scrutiny during the first Trump administration overa bookhe wrote about his time in government that officials argued disclosed classified information. To make its case, the Justice Department in 2020 submitted sworn statements from senior White House officials,including then-National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone, asserting that Bolton's manuscript included classified information that could harm national security if exposed. Bolton's lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer contained classified information. The Biden administration Justice Department in 2021abandoned its lawsuitand dropped a separate grand jury investigation, with Bolton's lawyer calling the effort to block the book "politically motivated" and illegitimate. Bolton'sharshly critical book, "The Room Where It Happened," portrayed Trump as grossly ill-informed about foreign policy and said he "saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government." Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a "crazy" warmonger who would have led the country into "World War Six." Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and also held positions in President Ronald Reagan's administration. He considered running for president in 2012 and 2016. Trump, on his first day back in office this year, revokedthe security clearancesof more than four dozen former intelligence officials, including Bolton. Bolton was also among a group of former Trump officials whose security details were canceled by Trump earlier this year. In 2022, an Iranian operative wascharged in a plotto kill Bolton in presumed retaliation fora 2020 U.S. airstrikethat killed the country's most powerful general. The handling of classified information by top government officials has been a politically loaded topic in recent years. Besides Trump, the Justice Department also investigated whether then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, mishandledclassified informationafter serving as vice president in the Obama administration, and the FBI also recovered what it said wereclassified documentsfrom the home of former Trump Vice President Mike Pence. Neither man was charged. ___ Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Nathan Ellgren, Lindsay Whitehurst, Alanna Durkin Richer, Byron Tau and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
