'No one is above the law': Who is John Bolton? Why Kash Patel ordered FBI raid on his house

FBI director Kash Patel Friday put out a cryptic post as FBI agents raided former Trump NSA John Bolton's DC-area home in a high-profile mational security probe. “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” Patel posted as the raid began. Federal agents busted into Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., at 7 a.m. in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump administration official told The New York Post.

The probe is unrelated to Bolton's recent media prominence, as he spoke to many news channels and wrote opinion pieces on Trump's Alaska meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The probe, involving classified documents, was launched years ago but the Biden adminoistration shut it down for political reasons, a senior US official told Post.

NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 22, 2025

Bolton has been critical of Trump inviting Putin to Alaska for the meeting and even before the meeting, he said it was a victory for Putin that he was welcomed to US soil. Even President Trump took note of Bolton's endless commentary on the media and called it "really dumb".

The early-morning raid, however, did not stop Bolton for commenting on the Trump's failure as he made an X post that such Trump-Putin meetings will continue to happen as Trump wants a Nobel Prize, indicating that such meetings will not bring forth any result.

"Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer. Zelensky will never do so. Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don't see these talks making any progress," Bolton posted Friday morning.

Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer.  Zelensky will never do so.  Meanwhile, meetings will continue because…

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) August 22, 2025

John Bolton was the US ambassador to the United Nations under George W Bush. He served in the first Trump administration as the National Security Adviser between 2018 and 2019. Bolton often clashed with both Democrats and Republicans over his foreign policy.