BETHESDA, United States, Aug 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - FBI agents on Friday raided and searched the home of one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken critics, his former national security adviser John Bolton.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered Bolton's home in the Washington suburb of Bethesda early in the morning, an AFP reporter said.

A police car with flashing lights was stationed outside the house, while journalists and onlookers gathered in the leafy street.

The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, posted on X: "NO ONE is above the law... @FBI agents on mission."

According to The New York Times and other US media outlets, the search was ordered to determine whether Bolton had illegally shared or possessed classified information.

Bolton served as Trump's adviser in his first term and angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened."

Legal efforts to block release of the book for allegedly containing classified information were eventually dropped when Joe Biden replaced Trump in the presidency in 2021.

Bolton has since become a highly visible and pugnacious critic of Trump, frequently appearing on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called "unfit to be president."

A longtime critic of Iran's ruling powers, Bolton was a national security hawk and has received death threats from Iranians.

The raid by the FBI comes seven months after Trump stripped him -- and multiple other critics -- of government security protections.

Since returning to power in January, Trump has embarked on a campaign to punish political opponents or simply anyone not fitting his right-wing agenda.

The onslaught has targeted private individuals like Bolton, senior civil servants, elite universities, law firms and opposition Democratic politicians.