President Donald Trump called John Bolton a “sleazebag” and a “lowlife,” Friday, but told reporters he didn’t know anything about the federal investigation into his former national security advisor because he “purposefully” stays out of such matters.
The FBI conducted a court-authorized search of Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Maryland, and his office in Washington, D.C. early this morning. Photographers took photos of agents removing boxes full of items from Bolton’s house.
“NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” FBI Director posted on X at 6:03 a.m.
The federal search of Bolton’s property was part of an investigation involving the handling of classified documents, according to the Associated Press.
Bolton served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser in his first term in 2019, but after the president fired him, Bolton became an outspoken critic and published a harshly critical anti-Trump book titled, “The Room Where It Happened.”
Bolton’s Secret Service detail was terminated in January within hours of Trump’s second term.
Trump told reporters that he would be briefed on the matter later in the day by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“I purposely don’t want to really get involved in it,” the president said, adding: “I’m not a fan of John Bolton, I think he’s a sleazebag, actually.” The president also said that
Bolton “suffers from major Trump Derangement Syndrome, but so do a lot of people and they’re not affected by anything we do.”
Trump made the remarks during a press conference in the Oval Office announcing that the 2026 World Cup draw will occur at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on December 5.
The president noted the FBI also raided his Mar-a-Lago property after he left his first term of office and it wasn’t “a good feeling.”
“I guess his house was raided today, but mine was raided also. They went through everything including my young son’s room and my wife’s area—they went through her drawers, they went through everything you could imagine,” Trump recalled. “So I know the feeling, it’s not a good feeling.”
The president also described Bolton as a “lowlife,” “not a smart guy” and a warmonger who always wanted to “kill people.”
“He was one of the people that forced Bush to do the ridiculous bombings in the Middle East, Trump said. He wants to always kill people.”
According to multiple reports, the search of Bolton’s home today was part of a renewed investigation from Trump’s first term that was dropped during the Biden years. The Justice Department is looking into whether he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book.
But that’s not all, Article III Project’s Mike Davis, “a Trump confidant who is very much in the know” told RealClearPolitic’s Philip Wegmann.
“My prediction? Democrats, RINOS and reporters, who think this raid on John Bolton is about his book will be very embarrassed when the search warrant becomes public,” Davis told RCP.