Federal agents searched the home of former national security adviser John Bolton on Friday, targeting one of President Trump’s most outspoken critics.

The FBI confirmed there was “court-authorized law enforcement activity” going on in the area of Bolton’s Maryland home. The search was reportedly related to Bolton’s handling of classified information.

The move marked an escalation of Trump’s feud with Bolton, and it set off alarms for critics of the president who viewed it as a potential act of retribution against a vocal critic.

Here are five things to know about the search.

Related to classified document suspicions

The probe builds on long-standing accusations by Trump that Bolton may have mishandled classified records, including as he wrote a tell-all book about his time in the first Trump administration.

Trump upon taking office for a second time revoked Bolton’s security clearance. It's a crime even for those with authorized access to remove many sensitive records from their proper setting, something that could run afoul of the Espionage Act.

Agents were seen coming in and out of both Bolton’s Maryland home as well as his D.C. office with boxes on Monday.

The FBI has declined to comment on the investigation and Bolton did not return request for comment.

DOJ dropped previous probe into Bolton’s book

The former national security adviser, who served in multiple other GOP administrations, published a memoir in 2020 titled “The Room Where it Happened” that offered a damning portrait of Trump as “stunningly uninformed” on how to run the government, foreign policy matters and geopolitics.

Trump previously tried to block Bolton from publishing the book, claiming a National Security Council review of Bolton’s manuscript determined it contained “significant amounts of classified information” and violated a nondisclosure agreement he signed when joining the administration.

But........

© The Hill