Dem Senator Calls John Bolton Raid Timing ‘Particularly Chilling,’ Ties It to Fiery Russia-Ukraine Statement Against Trump
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) called the FBI raid of John Bolton’s home “particularly chilling” after Bolton publicly criticized President Donald Trump over his handling of Russia and Ukraine.
Coons joined CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Friday shortly after news broke about the Bolton raid. Bolton, who previously served as Trump’s national security advisor, has been a vocal critic of the president since leaving his administration.
The former United Nations ambassador has been particularly unsatisfied with Trump’s foreign policy efforts, including in regard to Russia and Ukraine.
It is not entirely known what was behind the raid. No one was placed under arrest. FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that FBI agents were “on a mission” and “no one is above the law.”
“The timing of this is chilling,” Coons said on Friday, noting Bolton’s criticism of the president since leaving his White House.
Coons specifically tied the raid to Bolton’s criticism of Trump’s attempts to negotiate a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In recent days, after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Bolton has been publicly criticizing President Trump, saying that Putin is playing him and that he doesn’t understand the risks of what he’s doing in engaging with Putin, and Trump has been firing back. So the timing of this search of Bolton’s home is particularly chilling,” Coons said.
Bolton commented on the Russia-Ukraine situation on the same morning his home was raided.
“Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer. Zelensky will never do so. Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don’t see these talks making any progress,” he wrote, adding an NPR link where he criticized the president some more.
Coons argued the president is likely “sore” over Bolton’s repeated public shots, but he did acknowledge that the raid could be part of a larger investigation that has nothing to do with what he was talking about.
The senator insisted, however, that it is all “very suspect,” noting the case could be related to classified documents. Trump faced his own raid by the FBI over documents three years ago this month.
“It is possible that there is some ongoing national security investigation about the retention of classified documents,” Coons said. “Obviously, President Trump himself kept and mishandled huge amounts of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home and there were subsequent investigations so it’s possible that there is a legitimate basis and given that a judge had to sign off on this search warrant, we should keep an open mind, but the timing is very suspect.”
Watch above via CNN.
