FBI members carry boxes to the home of the former White House national security adviser John Bolton as it is searched by FBI, in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., August 22, 2025.
Tasos Katopodis | Reuters
The law-enforcement investigation of former Trump national security advisor John Bolton is “in the very early stages,” Vice President JD Vance said on the heels of the FBI’s raid of Bolton’s Maryland home on Friday morning.
Vance, in a new interview with NBC News‘ Kristen Welker, said that classified documents are “certainly part of” that probe, but “there’s a broad concern about Ambassador Bolton.”
Bolton is not being targeted because of his criticism of President Donald Trump, Vance told Welker in the interview, set to air Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
“If we were trying to do that, we would just throw out prosecutions willy-nilly, like the Biden administration [Department of Justice] did,” he said.
Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security advisor from April 2018 through September 2019.
FBI agents searched his office in Washington, D.C., in addition to his Bethesda home, on Friday.
“I will say we’re gonna let that investigation proceed,” Vance said.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Republican political event about the One Big Beautiful Bill at ALTA Refrigeration in Peachtree City, Georgia, U.S., August 21, 2025.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
“What I can tell you is that, unlike the Biden DOJ and the Biden FBI, our law enforcement agencies are going to be driven by law and not by politics,” Vance said.
“And so, if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come,” the vice president said.
“This is all part of gathering evidence, trying to understand something that we’re worried about.”
Trump told reporters Friday morning that he was unaware of the raid on Bolton’s home until he saw it reported on television.
Trump also called Bolton a “lowlife.”
NBC News reported earlier Friday that the investigation of Bolton is eyeing multiple instances of the use of classified documents in leaks to news media.
The investigation began during the Biden administration but was dropped by the Justice Department at some point before President Joe Biden left office in January, NBC reported.
