At around 7 a.m. ET, FBI agents executed a raid on the Bethesda, Maryland residence, of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, targeting a national security investigation involving classified documents. Bolton was neither detained nor charged at the time.
Kash Patel, now serving as FBI Director since February 2025, publicly declared, “No one is above the law… @FBI agents on mission,” via a post on X.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Hypocrisy in Motion
This move stands in glaring contrast to Patel’s earlier reaction to the Mar‑a‑Lago raid, which he had blasted as a “witch hunt.” Today’s action raises questions: how can one decry a similar enforcement action one day, then facilitate one the next—merely because the target is a political adversary?
Historically, Bolton had sparred with Trump—his former boss—particularly over leaked classified material in his memoir The Room Where It Happened. That case closed without charges under the Biden administration.
Bolton’s criticism persisted. He publicly denounced Trump’s foreign policy, calling him “the world’s worst negotiator” just days before the raid The Daily Beast.
A Brief Take
The optics are unmistakable: Patel condemns one case as aggressive overreach, yet authorizes another, same agency, same legal foundation, different subject. It isn’t just irony, it reflects the peril of selective judgment. Enforcement actions risk appearing politicized when the public perception is that penalties follow partisan lines.
