F.B.I. Searches Home and Office of John Bolton, Ex-Trump Adviser

F.B.I. agents on Friday searched the home and office of John R. Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, a major escalation of a long-running inquiry into whether he collected or leaked sensitive national security information, law enforcement officials said.

A representative for the bureau said agents were “conducting court-authorized activity in the area” after agents wearing F.B.I. jackets were seen entering Mr. Bolton’s house in the Maryland suburbs early Friday with empty document boxes. Other bureau officials were observed leaving his office in downtown Washington.

The sight of federal agents entering the home of a prominent Trump critic raises fresh concerns about the degree to which Mr. Trump is deploying government agencies, and the machinery of criminal justice, to pursue perceived enemies.

But such a search cannot be undertaken at the whim of the president or F.B.I. director; it must be authorized by a federal magistrate judge. In this instance, the search required approvals by two separate judges because it spanned two different federal districts.

Mr. Bolton has been under investigation for years, including during the Biden administration. The evidence used to justify Friday’s searches may remain under seal for some time, unless a judge decides otherwise.

The investigation into Mr. Bolton seeks to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information, according to people familiar with the case who requested anonymity to describe details of a continuing investigation. The key criminal statute involved in those potential crimes is part of the Espionage Act. Another potential criminal statute in the investigation is one that bars the unauthorized removal of classified documents or material.

The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search Mr. Bolton’s home was based on intelligence collected overseas by the C.I.A., according to people briefed on the matter. John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, provided limited access to the intelligence to Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director. The intelligence involved the possible mishandling of classified material by Mr. Bolton, the people said.

A senior federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the situation said the investigation involved accusations that Mr. Bolton had leaked sensitive national security information to the news media, and other parties, in an effort to damage Mr. Trump.

The investigation, the person emphasized, was not primarily focused on material Mr. Bolton gathered to write his highly unflattering 2020 account of life inside the first Trump White House, as had been previously believed.

The search unfolded as Mr. Trump has intensified demands to punish those he deems hostile or noncompliant, including Federal Reserve officials and people who ultimately prosecuted him. F.B.I. and Justice Department leaders, taking a cue from Mr. Trump, often break protocol to cheer on investigations, even before sufficient evidence is collected to justify an indictment.

“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” Mr. Patel posted on social media around 7 a.m. on Friday, about the time agents arrived at the Bolton home in Bethesda, a Maryland suburb just north of Washington.

Later, Mr. Trump denied having knowledge of the search but declared he was “not a fan” of Mr. Bolton, calling him a “low life” in an exchange with reporters in Washington.

“I could be the one starting it,” he added. “But I feel that it’s better this way.”

Mr. Bolton’s office declined to comment.

During the first Trump administration, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Bolton after the publication of his 2020 book, “The Room Where It Happened.”

At first, the White House tried to block publication of the manuscript, arguing that Mr. Bolton had not received necessary approvals.

A federal judge rejected the administration’s effort to halt publication, but in reviewing the material, the judge concluded that Mr. Bolton had probably shared classified information.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that he was “persuaded that defendant Bolton likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations.”

The judge added that Mr. Bolton “has gambled with the national security of the United States,” and suggested he could be charged criminally.

That same year, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into Mr. Bolton. While there has been little noticeable activity on the case for years, it continued into the Biden administration and has become more active in the second Trump term.

Conducting a search of a suspect’s home can be one of the final steps in a long-running case, used to determine if the physical evidence in the residence corroborates or adds to evidence compared with what has been gathered by investigators through other means, such as reviews of the cloud data from a cellphone.

In an interview set to air on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” however, Vice President JD Vance, said the investigation into Mr. Bolton had a long way yet to go.

“We’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton,” he said. “I will say we’re going to let that investigation proceed.”

He added that the facts would determine the outcome. “You should let the law drive these determinations, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

In recent days, Mr. Bolton has been particularly outspoken against Mr. Trump as he met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and then President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine about the war in Ukraine.

After Mr. Bolton publicly declared that Mr. Trump’s summit in Alaska with Mr. Putin was a victory for the Russian leader, the American president blasted him on social media, calling him “really dumb” and a “loser.”

Mr. Bolton was also highly critical of Mr. Trump’s retention of classified material at Mar-a-Lago after the 2022 F.B.I. search of Mr. Trump’s residence, which uncovered government materials, unguarded in boxes, some inside a bathroom, at the resort. A year later, Mr. Trump was indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents after he left office, but the case was dismissed by the trial judge, Aileen M. Cannon.

Early Friday, two F.B.I. vehicles arrived outside the building in downtown Washington where Mr. Bolton has an office. After an initial flurry of activity, in which agents took some materials out of an exit behind the building, the scene went quiet. Later, two agents left the building empty-handed and drove off separately.

By contrast, on the street outside Mr. Bolton’s home in Bethesda, a well-to-do, largely liberal suburb, three dozen reporters monitored the activity from across a busy two-lane road, crowded onto a small patch of pebbled walkway.

F.B.I. officials remained on the scene well into the afternoon, along with local police officers. Six cars were parked in Mr. Bolton’s driveway, at least one of them a dark-colored S.U.V. At one point three agents wearing F.B.I. jackets were seen carrying in empty document boxes, presumably to collect evidence.

Around 2:30 p.m., F.B.I. agents emerged with six cardboard boxes of material, packed into their vehicles and drove away. Mr. Bolton arrived back home a few minutes later, waving twice to reporters who shouted questions from across the street. He entered his residence without responding.

The Boltons, longtime residents of Bethesda, have long been a conspicuous presence in the neighborhood, with large black S.U.V.s regularly parked in their driveway and marked Secret Service cars keeping round-the-clock vigil from a perch across the street until Mr. Trump pulled the detail this year.

But multiple neighbors said Mr. Bolton was not particularly friendly, something they chalked up to his high-profile career.

“John Bolton is not our favorite person,” said Gerald Rogell, who lives across the street. Still, he also questioned whether the search was politically motivated.

As the day dragged on, and news of the search disseminated around the neighborhood, support for Mr. Bolton — out of principle, if not personal affection — seemed to rise.

“Don’t be thugs — respect his rights!” one man howled as he walked past several F.B.I. agents heading toward the house, then disappeared up the street.

Reporting was contributed by Maggie Haberman, Julian E. Barnes, Michael S. Schmidt, Karoun Demirjian and Zach Montague.

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