US Politics
DOJ reveals items taken from John Bolton’s house during FBI raid including folders labeled ‘Trump I-IV’
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The Justice Department has revealed items taken from the home of John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, during a recent FBI raid, including folders labeled “Trump I-IV.”
Federal agents combed through Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, last month in search of classified information. The former advisor has not been charged with a crime.
According to court documents made public by the DOJ on Thursday, the FBI was looking for, in part, documents that “appear to be classified” that relate to Bolton’s stint at the White House during Trump’s first term.
In the search, the agency said it found typed documents in folders labeled “Trump I-IV,” a white binder labeled “Statements and Reflections to Allied Strikes” and four boxes containing printed daily activities.
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Federal agents also seized two iPhones, a hard drive, two USB drives, a Dell Precision Tower computer, a Dell XPS laptop and a Dell Inspiron computer.
Bolton’s lawyer said in a statement published by CNN on Thursday the seized documents are “ordinary records of a 40-year career serving this country at the State Department, as an Assistant Attorney General, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and National Security Advisor.”
The Independent has reached out to Bolton’s political action committee for comment about the content of the folders labeled “Trump I-IV.”
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Trump announced he had tapped Bolton for the role of national security advisor in March 2018. But their relationship quickly soured, culminating in a social media post by Trump in September 2019, announcing that Bolton had been fired. The president said he “disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration.”
Bolton has since emerged as an outspoken Trump critic, specifically over the president’s approach to Russia. Bolton published a memoir, “The Room Where it Happened,” in June 2020, which described Trump as uninformed about foreign policy.
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The book’s publication was initially delayed after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit claiming Bolton breached his contract by failing to complete a pre-publication review for classified information.
Bolton mentioned the FBI raid on his home in a recent op-ed published by the Washington Examiner.
“President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy is no more coherent today than it was last Friday when his administration executed search warrants against my home and office,” Bolton wrote.
