On Friday, federal agents swarmed the home and office of John Bolton in multiple raids, as a once-dormant criminal investigation exploded back onto the scene. The former national security advisor turned anti-Trump cable news talking head had been suspected of leaking classified information in his 2020 memoir before the Biden administration shut the probe down.
The process had reportedly advanced to the point where a grand jury was involved, and a judge had previously warned Bolton he could end up criminally charged if he proceeded with publishing the book. With the election of President Donald Trump, whatever protections the CNN regular enjoyed suddenly evaporated.
SEE: Kash Patel's FBI Launches Early-Morning Raid of John Bolton's Home
Now, Bolton has responded by...virtue signaling about Ukraine? It's a choice, I guess.
Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy today is no more coherent than it was last Friday when his administration executed search warrants against my home and office. Collapsing in confusion and haste, Trump’s negotiations may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize…
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) August 26, 2025
Far be it from me to tell a guy facing down the Department of Justice how to cope, but man, watching him immediately pivot back to Ukraine is pretty wild. That's his priority, right now? More hand-wringing over peace negotiations that weren't even on the table when Biden was in charge? Really?
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. Collapsing in confusion, haste, and the absence of any discernible meeting of the minds among Ukraine, Russia, several European countries, and America, Trump’s negotiations may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize campaign.
The administration has tried to camouflage its disarray behind social media posts, such as Trump comparing his finger-pointing at Russian President Vladimir Putin to then-Vice President Richard Nixon during the famous kitchen debate with Nikita Khrushchev. Why Trump wants to be compared to the only president who resigned in disgrace is unclear.
I'm not "anti-Ukraine," but the way some on the left (and yes, Bolton is firmly on the left at this point) treat the country as some kind of deity to pay penance to, no matter the situation, is just weird. Also, what is the alternative here? There is no downside to at least attempting to end the war. If Russia asks for the moon and Ukraine decides it'd rather keep fighting than give in, then fine. Nothing would be lost in the process. Yet, Bolton seems to be treating the mere existence of negotiations as some kind of great, unthinkable evil.
That shouldn't surprise anyone, though. If Bolton is anything, it's one of the worst foreign policy minds in American history. We are talking about a guy who said he was "delighted" by the Obama administration's disastrous campaign in Libya. The Iraq War? He was all for it. The Syrian intervention that now has Christians being slaughtered by the new Islamist government, which is run by a former Al Qaeda leader? Bolton loved that too.
I'm comfortable in saying that hiring Bolton as NSA was one of the worst decisions Trump made in his first term. The last thing the United States needed was George W. Bush's warmed-up foreign policy leftovers.
Regardless, Bolton seems to have decided that running headlong into the brick wall is the only way through his current criminal woes. I'd caution that skulls and bricks don't go together, though. We'll see how this all works out for him.
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