FBI director's post before John Bolton raid 'unprecedented': Ex-agent

(NewsNation) — FBI Director Kash Patel's decision to post on social media ahead of a raid on the home of former national security adviser John Bolton was "unprecedented," according to a former FBI agent.

"NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission," Patel wrote Friday on the social platform X, appearing to acknowledge the raid.

Former FBI agent Phil Andrew told "Morning in America" that FBI leaders typically avoid discussing investigations to protect agents and the integrity of the case.

"It is odd and way out of the FBI's natural practice for the FBI director to be commenting on this on Twitter as a raid is taking place, and clearly there's been a lot of politicalization of the FBI by this director and his deputy," Andrew said.

By publicly posting on social media, Andrew said Patel was "clouding" the situation.

"It's unprecedented. We don't see directors, we don't see agents talking about investigations," he said. That is for the protection of the agents. It's for the protection of the investigation and the integrity of the investigation. So, he's already clouding whatever this is by making this kind of cryptic comment."

FBI raids John Bolton's home

The search took place at Bolton’s D.C.-area home and was related to classified documents, a source familiar with the search confirmed to NewsNation.

Bolton, who served as national security adviser in President Donald Trump’s first administration, was not detained and does not face charges, according to the Associated Press. All FBI searches require court-authorized search warrants.

The FBI said it was “conducting court authorized activity in the area” and that there was no public safety threat.

A former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton worked for Trump from 2018 to 2019.

In 2020, Bolton released a memoir about his time as an adviser titled, “The Room Where It Happened.” Officials in Trump’s first administration argued Bolton’s book disclosed classified information, but the Department of Justice dropped both a lawsuit and a grand jury investigation over the book the following year. 

Meg Hilling, Diana Falzone and Libbey Dean contributed to this report.