Trump reportedly pointed finger at John Bolton before FBI raid as conservative media sounds alarm
Weeks before the FBI raided John Bolton’s house, President Donald Trump made clear that his former national security adviser was a target of his second term.
Law enforcement agents raided Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland and his Washington, D.C. office on Friday as part of an investigation related to classified documents, Vice President JD Vance confirmed. Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019 but has since become a vocal critic of the president.
On Friday, Trump said he wasn’t aware of the raids until after they happened. “I saw it on television this morning,” he said. The president added he “wasn’t a fan” of Bolton.
“My house was raided also,” Trump told reporters, referring to the FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago compound in 2022. “So I know the feeling. It’s not a good feeling.”
But sources close to Trump toldThe Washington Post that the president was irked by Bolton’s critical comments ahead of his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president also publicly took issue with Bolton’s remarks, calling him “really dumb” in a Truth Social post on August 13 — raising questions over the timing of the raid, which occurred just nine days after the social media post.
The Independent has requested comment from the White House.
Earlier this month, Bolton accused Trump of running a “retribution presidency.” Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted his so-called political enemies, including law firms, news organizations, former government officials, ideological opponents, and universities.
Bolton noted that Trump has “already come after me and several others,” alluding to the revocation of his security detail, which he received following threats against his life from Iran.
Bolton has yet to make a public statement following the raids.
Their public feud began to simmer during Trump’s first administration in 2019, when the president asked his national security adviser to resign, stating in a tweet that he “disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions.”
In 2020, Bolton released an explosive memoir, The Room Where It Happened, detailing his time working in the first Trump administration.
The Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into whether Bolton disclosed classified information in his book and the administration tried to halt its publication, and a judge found in June 2020 that Bolton “likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations.”
But the court did not block the book’s publication.
Both the lawsuit and criminal probe were dropped under the Biden administration.
