Patel ordered the investigation into Bolton, according to the Post, which cited a Trump administration official.
Trump lashed out against Bolton on Aug. 13 after his former advisor criticized the president for agreeing to host a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin. Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won,’ ” Trump wrote on Truth Social that day. “What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING.”
Trump cancelled Bolton’s protective detail from the U.S. Secret Service after he was sworn in for his second term in the White House in January. Bolton had been under Secret Service protection because of plots by Iran to kill him.
Trump later told reporters that he did not know about the raid, but that he expected to be briefed about it later Friday.
Bolton is a terrible person and a raving narcissist. I find it quite plausible that he does indeed have some classified files at his house. But the fact that he last was part of the government 6 years ago and this raid is occurring the week after Trump got mad at him does not engender confidence.
I saw that and wondered where they will find the staff. Then I thought it might be a Palantir contract. Maybe they plan to vacuum up all the data they can and match it to non-citizen files.
According to previous reporting, National Guard deployments cost the US government $530 per guard member each day. Using that figure, Homestead estimated that it would cost just over $1.1 million.
She added that “the number of troops will likely continue to grow. And with no deadline for the DC deployment, those costs could add up for months or even years.”
Editorial notes: The $1.1 million is per day, which the article really should state. The law requires Congressional approval every 30 days for a continued military occupation of DC. We’ll see if that happens.
According to the most recent data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are about 5,600 people experiencing either sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in DC on a given night. Operating an affordable housing unit for each one of them, the data shows, costs about $45.44 per person, per day, on average in DC.
Providing affordable housing to every homeless person in DC would cost an estimated $255,166, which is 4.3 times less than the cost of Trump’s military deployment.
Also wondering why this wasn’t done in the first place instead of Home Depots. I mean, sure the latter really shows the racism they want to show, and who cares how productive it is?
I’m not a lawyer, but actually reading the non-propagandistic bits of it, I see:
It directs DOJ to prosecute or refer for prosecution citizens who break the law by “desecrating” the flag (e.g. hate crimes, disturbing the peace…); and
It directs State to revoke visas and deport noncitizens who are found to have “desecrated” the flag.
I’m not seeing an actual “one year in jail” item, but maybe that’s buried in the implications (and was previously neutered on First Amendment grounds)?
The use of the term “desecrate” also bolsters my refusal to engage in the Pledge or salute the flag on the grounds that doing either constitutes idolatry.
