“No one is above the law.” FBI Director Kash Patel posted that message early Friday morning as G-men were raiding the Maryland home and office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
The investigation is related to the handling of classified documents and national security secrets, according to multiple news reports. Bolton has not been arrested or charged with anything at this time.
When Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 intelligence officials earlier this week, her order noted that “Bolton had revealed sensitive information in his memoir The Room Where It Happened,” TNA reported.
In his 2023 book Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy, Patel included Bolton on the list of “members of the Executive Branch Deep State.” Bolton has also held positions in the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations.
Trump revoked Bolton’s Secret Service protection and his security clearance the moment he stepped into office this January. Bolton served as Trump’s national security advisor for 17 months during his first presidency. The short tenure ended September 2019. His firing was essentially the result of disagreements with Trump over foreign policy. Trump has called Bolton a “crazy warmonger.” Bolton supported the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and has argued for regime change in Iran as well as preemptive strikes against North Korea.
In other words, Bolton is the poster child of a neocon. He supports the disastrous interventionist policies that served as America’s foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. The New American characterized Bolton’s views in an August 2023 article this way:
Foreign policy must continue to operate along the same lines as it has since Woodrow Wilson first declared that America needed to take a leading, engaged role in world affairs, and foreign policy is rightly the province of anointed experts of the same pedigree as the Dean Achesons, Cordell Hulls, and Henry Kissingers of the past. Bolton, of course, embodies both of these criteria; a foreign-policy hawk of Cold War vintage, Bolton’s foreign-policy establishment credentials are impeccable. His chief concerns are standing up to evil dictators all over the world in the name of nebulous “interests,” and maintaining the post-World War II status quo that includes the perpetuation and enlargement of the UN system and the continuation of NATO.
Bolton has emerged as a rabid critic of Trump. In his 2020 book The Room Where It Happened, he paints Trump as ignorant on foreign policy, claiming that the president “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.” Over the years, Bolton has written op-eds and done several interviews lambasting the president in the same vein. The two most recurring themes can be summarized this way: (1) Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing, and (2) the United States should use its military might to intervene in more places around the world and, in many cases, bomb more of them.
The raid on Bolton’s home suggests the Trump administration harbors some interest in addressing the corruption that has been a mainstay of American politics.
In addition to Gabbard revoking the security clearances of 37 intelligence officials “who either politicized intelligence, leaked classified information, or trespassed tradecraft standards,” the Justice Department recently launched mortgage fraud investigations into Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Many perceive these two as figures who tried to weaponize the law against Trump.
Schiff sat on the J6 Committee, seen by many as a hit squad dressed up as investigatory body designed to take Trump down and destroy the MAGA movement. As New York Attorney General, James initiated one of many lawfare cases against Trump. Millions of Americans saw this as an attempt to prevent Trump from becoming president again. She filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump, his sons, and their company engaged in a scheme to inflate property values to obtain loans and financial benefits. The judge in the case initially passed down a $354 million judgment.
Another notable development on the crackdown front is Gabbard’s bombshell July report suggesting a “treasonous conspiracy” by former president Barack Obama and his national security team. You can read more about that here.
With all these attempts at cracking down on alleged corruption and holding Deep Staters accountable, there are two important questions. What exactly is Bolton suspected of doing, and will hitherto untouchables finally be held accountable?