Trump On ‘Lowlife, Unpatriotic’ Bolton: ‘Going To Find Out’ If He Leaked Classified Info

Update(1418ET): President Trump’s first comments since the early morning FBI raid on John Bolton’s Maryland home and D.C. office haven’t disappointed. Trump made clear he’s no fan, but that he didn’t personally get involved in the crackdown over allegations of mishandling or keeping classified documents. 

“I’m not a fan of John Bolton. He’s a real sort of lowlife… I know nothing about it,” the president said of his own former national security adviser from the first term, who he’s long described suffers major Trump derangement syndrome.

Trump repeated that he tries to “stay out of that stuff” and that he “purposefully” didn’t want to get involved when commenting on the morning raid on Bolton’s home. The mainstream media has been quick to assume this must be a politically-motivated action against Bolton coming from the top of the administration:

“I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning. I tell Pam [Bondi], and I tell the group, I don’t want to know about it. You have to do what you have to do,” Trump said.

“He is not a smart guy. But he could be a very unpatriotic guy. We’re going to find out,” Trump said.

.@POTUS: “I’m not a fan of John Bolton. He’s a real sort of lowlife… I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning… I tell Pam and I tell the group I don’t want to know about it. You have to do what you have to do.” pic.twitter.com/ADl7GFKJqp

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 22, 2025

The president then noted that his own Mar-a-Lago estate got raided in 2022, over the handling of presidential and classified documents: “They went through everything you can imagine,” Trump said.

CNN has reported the following new confirmation as follows: “The FBI conducted a court-authorized search at former national security adviser John Bolton’s home and office as part of a renewed investigation into whether he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book, according to two people familiar with the matter.”

And more: “CNN observed FBI personnel at Bolton’s house in the Washington, DC, area on Friday morning. They were seen speaking to a person on the porch of the house, and at least four to six agents were seen going inside. Some of the agents took bags out of the vehicles to bring inside, but nothing was seen coming out of the residence.”

The two have traded barbs for years, with Trump also highlighting that Bolton is a ‘sick’ neocon and many other epithets:

“Many of the ridiculous statements he attributes to me were never made, pure fiction,” Trump said in a social media post June 18, 2020. “Just trying to get even for firing him like the sick puppy he is!” 

And there was this memorable one:

“Wacko John Bolton’s ‘exceedingly tedious’(New York Times) book is made up of lies & fake stories. Said all good about me, in print, until the day I fired him,” Trump said in a separate social media post on June 18, 2020. “A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!“

* * *

In a bombshell of a development, federal agents conducted a raid on the Maryland residence of former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Friday morning, according to various breaking sources.

One source connected to the investigation has described that the search was aimed at locating potentially classified documents that authorities suspect Bolton may still have in his possession. There are reports that his D.C. office was also raided and searched.

There are no indicators as of yet that Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, has been arrested or taken into custody.

“NO ONE is above the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted to X Friday morning, but without giving direct reference to the Bolton house raid. “FBI agents on mission.”

According to NY Post, which first revealed the raid:

Federal agents went to 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 Post.

…The probe — which is said to involve classified documents — was first launched years ago, but the Biden administration shut it down “for political reasons,” according to a senior US official.

The FBI are reportedly sorting through papers and boxes:

🚨 BREAKING: Federal agents are RIGHT NOW in John Bolton’s home “going through things” following an early morning FBI RAID in the DC area over national security concerns.

Yes. We did, indeed, vote for this.

This is Bolton’s primary residence.

“This deals with classified… pic.twitter.com/PmIOAxTgtA

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 22, 2025

Trump has been a longtime fierce critic of Bolton, after Bolton had long ago started going after Trump. Just this week, Bolton was on CNN and prime news shows blasting Trump’s dealings with Putin and the Ukraine negotiations.

“I don’t think there’s a peace deal anywhere in the near future,” he said while criticizing the commander-in-chief’s tactics while recently speaking to CNN.

Back in January Bolton had been among former top officials, and Trump adversaries, to get their costly security protections stripped. 

Axios also recalls that Bolton wrote in a foreword to his memoir that was published last year the words: “a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be President.”

Publication of the book had been delayed so that the White House could review its content for any potential security breaches or disclosure of sensitive information.

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

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

Bolton’s DC office also raided, he was spotted at the office pic.twitter.com/mbigemyz8q

— Svetlana Lokhova (@RealSLokhova) August 22, 2025

Mainstream media is being quick to suggest the house raid is an act of retribution. “Bolton was vocal in his criticism of the president after working in the first Trump administration. Trump has aggressively used the power of the presidency to punish political foes,” Axios observes.