Searches of John Bolton’s Home and Office: Further Thoughts

On the homepage, we’ve posted my column on the FBI’s search of John Bolton’s home early this morning. In it, I traced the history of the classified-information controversy surrounding Bolton’s memoir of his time as national security adviser in the first Trump administration. (He was fired in September 2019 and published the 592-page book just nine months later, in June 2020.) I did not address, however, some of the basic procedural aspects of law-enforcement searches.

My understanding is that the searches were pursuant to warrant. I say “searches,” plural, because we’ve learned since my column posted that the bureau also searched an office that Bolton maintains in Washington, D.C.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

Featured Tags

Department of Justice

Trump Administration

John Bolton

Biden Administration

On the homepage, we’ve posted my column on the FBI’s search of John Bolton’s home early this morning. In it, I traced the history of the classified-information controversy surrounding Bolton’s memoir of his time as national security adviser in the first Trump administration. (He was fired in September 2019 and published the 592-page book just nine months later, in June 2020.) I did not address, however, some of the basic procedural aspects of law-enforcement searches.

My understanding is that the searches were pursuant to warrant. I say “searches,” plural, because we’ve learned since my column posted that the bureau also searched an office that Bolton maintains in Washington, D.C.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.