Originally published at: Retribution Alert: FBI Raids Home Of Trump Nemesis John Bolton
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. DOJ Weaponization In Overdrive The FBI showed up early Friday morning at the Maryland home of former Trump I national security adviser John Bolton, apparently executing a court-authorized search warrant in what is reportedly a…
3 Likes
Yep.
49 Likes
You’ve got to be some kind of magician to make me feel sorry for John F. Bolton.
60 Likes
17 Likes
“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.” – Karl Kraus
63 Likes
I always thought Trump would order the FBI to raid Schiff’s mortgage broker first.
35 Likes
Well, I guess we now know when the fascism starts gaining steam
“The pointy end of the spear in any effort to weaponize the government is the Justice Department, both because, in an offensive sense, it prosecutes cases and investigates cases, but also because, in a defensive sense, when you shake down Harvard University and Harvard sues you, it is the Justice Department that is going to defend that”
Now Ruth Marcus is a sober and serious Justice Department watcher—one of the very best Ruth pointed out that “70 percent of the Civil Rights Division is gone. Half the career lawyers in the solicitor general’s office are gone. Half the lawyers in the office that defends the federal government against these lawsuits are gone at precisely the wrong time for the administration.”
This Justice Department conceives of itself in an entirely different way: Its job is simply to achieve the goals of the administration, no matter what. He picked Pam Bondi for a reason. He is getting what he wanted, which is: full steam ahead. There are no people at the Justice Department telling him, ‘Mr. President, you really can’t do this,’ because they wouldn’t last if they did.
“I asked Goldsmith- “You have a lot of contacts in the Justice Department from students there. Is Ruth overstating the matter?”
Yet just as Marcus had outflanked me, Goldsmith now outflanked her.
“No, she’s not,” he said. “In fact, I would say it’s even worse than Ruth described. It’s basically like an atomic bomb dropped on the Justice Department.” And this administration has systematically and ruthlessly and successfully eliminated, with one exception, all internal legal resistance.
71 Likes
A look back at Trump and Bolton’s rocky relationship
As we bring you more information about the reported FBI raid on John Bolton’s Maryland home, it’s worth pointing out that Bolton was stripped of his security clearance when Trump started his second term in office. The president also got rid of Bolton’s government detail, despite being the target of an assassination plot due to Bolton’s criticism of the Iranian regime.
Bolton served as Trump’s third national security advis er in his first term in office, but has since become a vocal critic of the president. Less than an hour ago, a post from Bolton’s X account critiqued the state of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. “Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don’t see these talks making any progress.”
Bolton also published a memoir, ‘The Room Where it Happened’, detailing his time in Trump’s White House. He ultimately concluded that the president was not “fit for office”.
A reminder that the Trump administration actually sued Bolton over his book back in 2020 – alleging that he didn’t follow the correct protocol to have it reviewed for classified information. However, in 2021, the justice department under Joe Biden closed the investigation, and Bolton was ultimately given a federal judge’s go-ahead to publish his book.
————————
Trump him no likee.
44 Likes
In childish whiny voice:
Is it Fascism yet?
37 Likes
Oh yes. Did you not get the memo?
23 Likes
This from Trump: “National Security Advisor John R. Bolton published a memoir for monetary gain.”
Like somebody said, Governing by Trolling.
40 Likes
Of course, no one should start a rumor that Bolton was targeted because he had acquired evidence linking Donald Trump to the Epstein crimes.
Because baseless rumors are very wrong.
40 Likes
I have never liked the 'stache, but he has been consistent in his criticism of the citrus simpleton.
Like most of the other ham-handed bullshit prosecutions, this will likely go nowhere other than an eventual civil action against the dumbfucks who were willing to carry it out.
But Bolton will suffer some heartburn in the short term. He was a big enough asshole in the W admin that I won’t lose any sleep over his discomfort.
22 Likes
For them to throw up a distraction like this Bolton story- and to move their fascism into high gear like this, leads me to believe that there must be some bad shit in them there Epstein files!
39 Likes
Some more pictures are coming through of FBI agents carrying empty cardboard boxes into John Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland.
34 Likes
And everybody thought Nixon had an enemies list. What an amateur.
43 Likes
Oh shit! Empty cardboard boxes! I bet they are stolen!
And let this be a lesson to anybody else that considers that they may dare criticize the Wizard of Orange!
13 Likes
Trump DOJ weaponization chieftain took the bogus investigation of Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook to a new level yesterday when he sent a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell urging him to fire her: “At this time, I encourage you to remove Ms. Cook from your Board. Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her.”
Well, that settles it!
As I couldn’t be an American, I must now be a stateless person. I’d better prepare for deportation.
Should I buy mosquito net for South Sudan, down clothing for McDougal and Heard Island or desert gear for Darfur? There’s just no clue.
28 Likes