Vice President JD Vance gave a grade-A lesson in the handling of the press' gotcha questions when asked during an interview about the early morning raid at the home and office of former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
On Friday, Vance was pre-taping an interview for NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" when the news hit of the Bolton raid, and the VP's handling of Welker was a thing of beauty.
🚨 JUST IN: JD Vance reveals that John Bolton may soon be CRIMINALLY INDICTED. pic.twitter.com/6ACjUldHTi
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 22, 2025
"We're in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton...if we think Bolton committed a crime, of course prosecutions will come."
"There's a broad…
READ MORE: Kash Patel's FBI Launches Early-Morning Raid of John Bolton's Home: 'No One Is Above the Law'
"Why is the FBI raiding [former] Ambassador Bolton's home and office. And did the White House get a heads up?" Welker asked.
"Well, so we're in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton. I will say we're gonna let that investigation proceed," Vance replied. "What I can tell you is that, unlike the [former President Joe] Biden DOJ and the Biden FBI, our law enforcement agencies are going to be driven by law and not by politics."
"And so, if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come. But as you know, Kristen, this is all part of gathering evidence, trying to understand something that we're worried about," he added. "And of course, I'll let the FBI comment on the next stage of the investigation."
When Welker pressed about "What's at the root of this? Is this about classified documents?"
The VP reiterated that he would let the "FBI speak to that. Classified documents are certainly part of it, but I think that there's a broad concern about Ambassador Bolton. They're going to look into it. "
"And like I said, if there's no crime here, we're not going to prosecute it," he added. "If there is a crime here, of course, Ambassador Bolton will get his day in court. That's how it should be. But again, our focus here is on, did he break the law? Did he commit crimes against the American people? If so, then he deserves to be prosecuted."
And of course, Welker had to suggest that Bolton was being somehow targeted and investigated because he's been a critic of Trump. Vance dealt with her with ease, and the breaking news had just hit.
"No, not at all. And in fact, if we were trying to do that, we would just throw out prosecutions willy-nilly, like the Biden administration DOJ did," Vance replied. "Prosecutions that later got thrown out in court. If we bring a case, and of course, we haven't done that yet. The Department of Justice has not done that yet. We are investigating Ambassador Bolton, but if they ultimately bring a case, it will be because they determine that he has broken the law."
"We're going to be careful about that," he added. "We're going to be deliberate about that, because we don't think that we should throw people even if they disagree with us politically, maybe especially if they disagree with us politically, you shouldn't throw people willy-nilly in prison. You should let the law drive these determinations, and that's what we're doing."
As you can imagine, Welker had to try once more, because of course, and she said, "A lot of people have already looked at this and said, this looks a lot like retribution. Is this retribution?"
Vance once again was a pro and pressed the reporter, "Well, who has said it looks a lot like retribution, Kristen?"
"A lot of people who tried to throw Donald Trump in prison for completely fake charges that were later thrown out by multiple different courts," the VP said. "I suspect that if the media and the American people let this case actually unfold, if they let the investigation unfold, as it's currently doing, they're going to find out that what we're doing is being very deliberate and being very driven by the national interest, and by the law here and that's as it should be."
My RedState colleague Rusty Weiss reported on the early morning raid on Bolton's Bethesda home.
Weiss wrote:
The case reportedly revolves around a prior investigation involving allegations that Bolton unlawfully disclosed classified information in a memoir published in June 2020.
The New York Post first reported on the raid, which was conducted at 7 a.m. Within minutes, Director Patel took to his X account to report that the FBI was engaged in a "mission."
"NO ONE is above the law," he wrote in a cryptic message. "@FBI agents on mission."
A short time later, RedState's Bonchie reported that a second raid had been carried out at Bolton's D.C. office.
This story is developing. Stay tuned to RedState for updates.
Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at RedState, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
Help us continue to tell the truth about the Trump administration and its successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member