Free Republic

When news hit last week that federal agents had raided John Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington office, the reaction was as predictable as it was hysterical. The left immediately leapt into hysterics, spinning the story as proof of Trump’s alleged obsession with revenge, tying it to Bolton’s bitter falling-out with him. Within hours, the usual chorus was screeching the same tired lines: Democracy is under attack! Trump is a dictator! This was pure political retribution! Only it wasn’t. A new report from—if you can believe it—the New York Times has thrown cold water on that absurd little storyline. According to...

Pelosi, Schiff, and Biden have politicized a career intelligence community position by demanding the removal of a national security professional.Hours after President Joe Biden delivered his inaugural address promising to bring unity and healing to the country, his administration began a politically charged attack on a highly respected, newly appointed career intelligence official over fears he would be insufficiently loyal to Democratic partisans. The attempted purge has thus far followed the playbook publicly laid out by top Democrats and their left-wing media enablers. In a stunning violation of precedent, Biden’s National Security Agency (NSA) placed General Counsel Michael J. Ellis...

Last week’s FBI raid targeting former National Security Adviser John Bolton reaches beyond alleged mishandling of classified documents in relation to a book he published in 2020, according to a report from Fox News citing a Trump Administration source. The report has fueled speculation that the former Trump official could face criminal charges. Legal experts have long speculated that Bolton could face legal troubles due to his 2020 book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” in which he trashed his former boss extensively. A lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleged...

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. They confiscated his wife Gretchen’s phone...

A federal judge declined the Justice Department's request for an order delaying publication of former national security adviser John Bolton's tell-all book about his 17 months in President Donald Trump's administration. In a 10-page order, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth sharply criticizes Bolton and while he suggests that the national security concerns may indeed be valid, he rejects the government’s argument that an injunction would be effective at this point given its already-wide circulation and discussion in the media.

Is the raid on John Bolton’s home retribution? Revival of a dormant case against him for mishandling national security? Something more sinister? This week the FBI conducted a seven- or eight-hour raid on former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s home and his office. (Unlike raids such as those the Biden administration conducted against Trump, his employees, advisors, and associates, no press was alerted and engaged, so reports are from bystanders who videotaped it on their cell phones.) Is the raid on John Bolton’s home retribution? Revival of a dormant case against him for mishandling national security? Something more sinister? BackgroundFive...

FBI agents raided the Maryland home and Washington, DC office of President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton Friday morning in a high-profile probe of allegations that he sent “highly sensitive” classified documents to his family from a private email server while working in the White House.Federal investigators went to Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., at 7 a.m. in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump administration official told The Post. Agents later went to Bolton’s office in downtown DC, but did not enter until a judge signed a warrant for that location late Friday morning.“NO...

The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search John Bolton’s home Friday was based on intelligence collected overseas by the CIA, according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, provided Kash Patel, the FBI director, with limited access to the intelligence. It involved the mishandling of classified material by Bolton, the people said. The search of the home and office of Bolton, who was national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term, was a major escalation of a long-running inquiry into whether he collected...

After more than three weeks of testimony and four days of deliberation, a New York jury convicted a Turkish banker charged in a U.S. sanctions-busting case that strained relations between the two countries. Hakan Atilla, 47, the deputy general manager of Halkbank, was found guilty of five counts of conspiracy and bank fraud but acquitted of money laundering. The verdict is likely to bring sharp rebukes from the government of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who was implicated during the closely watched trial. Atilla faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman...

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag says Washington has told Ankara that jailed Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab -- a gold trader who is awaiting trial in the United States on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran -- is in good medical condition. Bozdag made the remarks on November 16, a day after Turkey announced it had sent a diplomatic note to U.S. authorities inquiring about Zarrab. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons website last week listed Zarrab, 34, as having been released from prison on November 8. But U.S. prosecutors said that posting was an error and he remained...

FBI agents raided former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton’s DC-area home Friday morning in a high-profile national security probe, The Post can exclusively reveal. Federal agents busted into Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., at 7 a.m. in an investigation ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump administration official told The Post. “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” he said in a cryptic post to X shortly after the raid began. The probe — which is said to involve classified documents — was first launched years ago, but the Biden administration shut it down “for...

John Bolton's bombshell memoir contains new instances of alleged misconduct by President Trump – including agreeing to back off criminal probes as 'personal favors' to certain dictators. The book also contains a claim that Trump pleaded with Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost U.S. food purchases, describing it in terms of his own election. Trump regularly touts a deal to pause the China trade war as one of his chief accomplishments. A new book excerpt obtained by the New York Times contains the claim about the criminal probes. Bolton writes that in cases involving China and Turkey, Trump was willing...