The Wall Street Journal slammed the raid of President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton’s home on Friday, labeling it a part of the president’s “vendetta campaign.”
Law enforcement said the investigation into Bolton was over classified records stored at his residence in Bethesa, Md. But, the Journal argued the probe reeks of political “retribution.”
“It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive. Mr. Bolton fell out of Mr. Trump’s favor in the first term and then wrote a book about his experience in the White House while Mr. Trump was still President. Mr. Trump tried and failed to block publication,” a Friday op-ed from the outlet reads, referencing Bolton’s 2020 book.
“The President then claimed Mr. Bolton had exposed classified information, though the book had gone through an extensive pre-publication scrub at the White House for classified material,” it continues.
The Journal says Trump is “out for blood,” citing other blows to Bolton, including the president’s January decision to nix his security detail.
Bolton has made frequent cable appearances critiquing Trump’s foreign diplomacy efforts, alleging the leader is a pawn for Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The Journal argued on Friday that this criticism is the motive behind the federal government’s probe.
“It’s unlikely that Mr. Bolton broke any laws on national secrets, and he certainly didn’t share any with us over our long association with him. But perhaps Mr. Trump intends for the process itself to be the punishment even if there is ultimately no criminal charge,” the op-ed says.
“Mr. Bolton has to pay for legal counsel, and his family has to endure the anxiety of being under federal government siege,” the Journal adds.
Agents raided Bolton’s home on Friday after he left for work and confiscated his wife’s phone.
Despite some questioning whether the raid is an act of retribution, Vice President Vance said the investigation is not tied to political revenge.
“What I can tell you is that, unlike the Biden DOJ and the Biden FBI, our law enforcement agencies are going to be driven by law and not by politics. And so, if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come,” Vance told MSNBC’s Kristen Welker in an interview airing Sunday.
Trump told reporters Friday he was unaware of the raid at Bolton’s home and would remain distant from any prosecutorial efforts led by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The president sued the Wall Street Journal a few weeks prior to the Friday op-ed over an article stating he sent a suggestive birthday card to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump slammed the outlet’s credibility in several posts following the move.
