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Karma Comes Calling for John Bolton
On August 8, 2022 about 30 FBI agents descended on Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago and searched the place with less civility than they would have afforded a Miami drug lord. They spent most of that day rummaging through Trump’s personal belongings — and those of his wife and son — allegedly in search of classified documents. This was the first time in history that such an outrage had been committed against any former president. Yet it was greeted with thinly disguised glee by Trump’s critics, including fired National Security Advisor John Bolton.
The weirdest part of this retribution narrative is watching Democrats cry crocodile tears over the plight of a Republican like John Bolton.
Friday morning at 7 a.m., Bolton learned what it feels like to have the FBI appear at one’s front door with a search warrant. Later that day, federal agents also searched his D.C. office. According to a report in the New York Post, a senior U.S. official said the FBI is investigating Bolton’s use of a private email to send national security documents to family members. This official alleged, “While Bolton was a national security adviser, he was literally stealing classified information, utilizing his family as a cutout.” This is profoundly ironic considering Bolton’s frequent public statements about President Trump and the Mar-a-Lago raid.
After that event, Bolton appeared on MSNBC to inveigh against Trump and his attitude concerning classified material: “I don’t think he cared about the classification system, I don’t think he appreciated the sensitivity of this information.” Oddly enough, he was utterly unconcerned about the dangerous precedent set by an FBI raid on a former president’s home: “It’s important that everybody take a deep breath here. This is a very serious matter. And it would be better if we could let the legal process play out.” It played out, of course, when a federal judge dismissed the classified documents case against Trump.
Inevitably the corporate news media have reacted quite differently to the Mar-a-Lago and Bolton raids. In the former case the major outlets often refused to call it a “raid.” The Washington Post, for example, ran countless pieces like this one in which the FBI “search” of Trump’s home was characterized as relatively routine: “It’s important to note that there is no reason to think the FBI’s action was triggered by politics.” On the other hand, the Post’s editorial about the bureau’s visit to Bolton’s house uses the “R” word in its headline: “FBI raid targeting Bolton crosses a line in the Trump revenge campaign.” It goes downhill from there:
The pursuit of 76-year-old Bolton underscores the danger of putting partisan hacks in top law enforcement jobs. The government needed to show probable cause to get a judge to sign the search warrant, so it’s possible there was a rock-solid predicate for the search. But Trump’s promises of retribution and revenge make the government’s motives suspect … It is a valid fear that the case against Bolton is a fresh instance of the old Soviet saying, “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” It comes against the backdrop of federal investigators looking for dirt on other Trump critics.
The editors of the Wall Street Journal, who should stop masquerading as conservatives, are guilty of the same offense. When the FBI descended on Mar-a-Lago like a SWAT team, they ran opinion pieces patiently explaining the need for former presidents not to keep classified documents at their homes. In Bolton’s case, they vented their rage in a screed titled, “Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton.” Apparently, without giving any thought to the possibility that Bolton might have committed a serious crime, they adopted the same moronic “retribution” narrative peddled by the hacks at Slate and Salon:
President Trump promised voters during his campaign for a second term that he had bigger things on his mind than retribution against opponents. But it is increasingly clear that vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how he will define success in his second term … His revenge campaign took an ominous turn Friday as FBI agents raided the home and office of Mr. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton. They brought two broad warrants to search the “premises.” Agents showed up unannounced at his Bethesda, Md., home at 7 a.m.
The weirdest part of this retribution narrative is watching Democrats cry crocodile tears over the plight of a Republican like John Bolton. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told CNN, “In recent days, after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Bolton has been publicly criticizing President Trump … So the timing of this search of Bolton’s home is particularly chilling.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) parroted the same talking points on MSNBC. Both of these characters know perfectly well that the FBI could not have convinced a judge to issue two separate search warrants, one for Bolton’s home and one for his office, without showing probable cause.
So, did the Bolton raid involve a dark plot by President Trump and his minions at the FBI to exact retribution on a national security advisor who was fired six years ago? Or is it more plausible that the new FBI Director reopened a case against Bolton based on evidence uncovered since the DOJ and FBI finally got honest leadership. It’s an Occam’s razor thing. Most people can’t plan lunch with more than three people without messing it up, much less plan and execute an elaborate conspiracy to destroy a savvy political enemy for revenge. As John Bolton himself has phrased it, “It would be better if we could let the legal process play out.”
READ MORE from David Catron:
Will Newsom Rig His Redistricting Referendum?
How James Carville Would ‘Save Democracy’
Trump Should Have Fired McEntarfer Long Ago
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