Hitting the John

The FBI raided John Bolton’s home and office this morning, “to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information.” Bolton is a former Trump advisor and a current Trump critic. The NYT (Gift Article) puts things mildly in its headline: Search of Bolton’s Home Shows Uneasy Mix of Retribution and Law Enforcement. “It is not clear what evidence the authorities have that John Bolton mishandled classified information, but President Trump’s efforts to punish rivals immediately stoked questions about the investigation.” Of course, those questions would a lot more difficult to answer if Bolton’s name didn’t appear on Kash Patel’s enemies list and the raid didn’t follow a very clear pattern of retribution — one we were repeatedly warned about during the election. TNR: Trump’s FBI Raid of John Bolton’s Home Looks Like a Five-Alarm Fire. “Whatever we end up learning about the rationale for the FBI’s early-morning raid on former national security adviser John Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home on Friday, there’s plainly a major escalation underway in President Donald Trump’s use of law enforcement to persecute his perceived enemies and entrench his authoritarian power.”