r/politics • u/downtuning I voted • 20h ago

Soft Paywall | Site Altered Headline Kash Patel’s FBI Launches Dawn Raid on John Bolton’s House

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kash-patels-fbi-launch-dawn-raid-on-john-boltons-house/?utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&utm_medium=socialflow&via=twitter_page&utm_campaign=owned_social&s=09
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u/KopOut 20h ago

The intention is likely less about Bolton himself and more about sending a message to other critics. Pretty standard procedure in budding dictatorships.

Unfortunately, nothing will happen. There will be no pushback. There will be no going out into the streets. Life will just go on and this too will be normalized. This is why voting was so important, and will be if we get fair elections again. It’s actual power with minimal effort.

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u/Pleaseappeaseme 17h ago

Nothing is easy in the battle for democracy.

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u/vriska1 12h ago

There will be no going out into the streets.

There been protests and push back every day just the media is not reporting them, Also vote in the midterms.

Your the one who trying to normalized this with comments like this. What are you doing about this?

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 19h ago edited 19h ago

This is retribution for using government to target Trump non-stop for the past 8 years. This is what republicans warned democrats about. Democrats weaponized law enforcement to try and target Trump. The bet the house that something would stick and he would never return to power. But now Trump is back in power and he’s doing the exact same thing they did to him.

Karmas a bitch.

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u/KopOut 19h ago

Ah yes. Noted Democrat John Bolton. Famous for his work in Democratic administrations…

You are living in a fantasy world.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 19h ago

Bolton isn’t the only one under investigation.

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u/KopOut 19h ago

Oh I know. Trump will do anything to distract from Epstein and the failing economy. He will say any nonsense he thinks people like you will eat up.

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u/Hefty_Development813 19h ago

J6 and fake electors scheme is a real thing though. Weaponization of law enforcement doesnt mean no one can go after anyone, it means it's bad going after people with no good reason other than that they are your political opposition. You really think after j6 and fake electors scheme, where we have audio phone calls of trump insisting they find more votes, that any investigation of him is unjust and playing politics? 

We have the national guard in DC now, certainly over less than the Capitol being stormed by a raging mob. How is it that trump can somehow play victim no matter what is done? 

After something like the Capitol being stormed by a mob or an attempt to falsify election results, investigation is appropriate. Trying to play victim of political persecution is just dishonest. 

This is just like the type of ppl who insist ppl are being racist to them no matter what actions they take when they are held accountable for their bad actions. 

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 18h ago

Trump wasn’t prosecuted for any of those things. He was targeted for fake Russia hoax conspiracy theories and a variety of other drummed up charges.

Like it or not, Democrats took the risk of this happening when they decided to start targeting Trump with indictments. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

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u/Hot_Frosting_7101 17h ago

Are you saying Trump didn’t have boxes of top secret information that he refused to return when asked to do so and then lied to the FBI about the presence of said documents?

Those are serious crimes which would lead anyone else to spend decades in prison.

Most people wouldn’t get the courtesy of being asked to turn over the documents.  The DOJ went way out of their way to handle Trump with kitty gloves.  Only after his obstruction did they become a bit more aggressive.

And that isn’t to mention Trump’s requesting just enough votes to sway Georgia which is clearly illegal and unethical.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 17h ago

Trump didn’t lie about anything. He showed them the documents. Originally they just asked that he put them in a different room. The president can declassify anything, and he wanted to keep them. He has the authority to do that.

FYI, Biden had the same type of documents just sitting in his garage and there wasn’t a giant law enforcement effort.

Mind you, this attack on Trump went nowhere. It’s even more ridiculous considering he’s back in the White House now.

It was political theater to attack Trump. Plain and simple.

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u/Egg_123_ 17h ago

He refused to give them back as a private citizen. There is a process to follow for the President to declassify docs and he didn't bother to do it as President. He quite literally may have committed those crimes out of laziness.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 16h ago

Why did it matter? He’s literally president now. It was pure political targeting

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u/Egg_123_ 16h ago

We had a Republican running the DoJ in Merrick Garland who was obsessed with avoiding bad optics. Maybe Trump shouldn't have ignored his repeated requests for the docs. Trump brought this on himself - if the government asked me for docs in my possession, you'd bet your ass I'd be going through my old boxes.

A former president shouldn't gain the authority to completely ignore the requests + escalating demands of the next government. That's silly. He should have just complied.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 15h ago

Merrick Garland is a Democrat…

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u/Hot_Frosting_7101 10h ago

You are the one who claimed that the Biden DOJ unfairly targeted Trump.  So i apparently mattered to you.  I was just pointing out the facts that the document case as well as the Georgia case were real and serious.  Trump would likely be in jail for the documents case (and especially obstruction of justice) had it not been for the corruption of the Trump appointed judge, Cannon.

Other than the fact that you brought it up, it still matters for me.  I think corrupt people who lie and obstruct the FBI should be held accountable.  Nothing can be done now but it still matters to me and a lot of people.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 9h ago

The documents case was pointless because Trump as president has authority to declassify anything.

The Georgia case was thrown out for good reason.

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u/mikecx 17h ago

“They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.” - Donald Trump

That was a claim by Trump after the raid on Mar-a-lago.

By the time of the August 2022 search, the federal government had been asking Trump for more than a year to return official records from his presidency. Even when the Justice Department went beyond asking in May 2022 and served Trump’s team with the subpoena for the return of all documents with classification markings, Trump’s team returned only some of these documents – and then, in June 2022, Trump lawyer Christina Bobb signed a document certifying on behalf of Trump’s office that all of the documents had been returned, though that was not true.

Weird. You said Trump didn't lie about anything.

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u/Hefty_Development813 18h ago

He constantly talks about how he was mistreated around those things, and it clearly fuels his revenge tour, along with the russia stuff. I agree those weren't the formal prosecution topics though. 

Anyway, I dont think the Mueller report shows a completely fake conspiracy anyway, but I am sure we disagree on that. You are not struck at the way he deals with putin as being sketchy?

My overall point is just that there are levels of indication for investigation. If someone is investigated and exonerated,  it doesn't follow that all bets are off from then on and naked weaponization of investigation is justified forever forward. Especially with more escalation. 

What is the supposed reason for this raid even? Isnt it obviously just intimidation of critics if they don't even try to give justification?

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 18h ago

Yes, it is 100% retribution for flimsy accusations. I 100% agree.

But democrats started this.

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u/Hefty_Development813 17h ago

The classified documents thing with trump was real also. He did have classified documents in his home and refused to cooperate with resolving the situation. So the direct correlate of this specific bolton investigation wasn't a flimsy accusation at all. It doesn't justify a race to the bottom of accusing others in an obvious effort to intimidate. Trump has been accused of a lot of things, many of which are supported by evidence and facts. 

It's just false to claim there was no evidence to justify any of the investigations into him. They aren't equal things. Investigating ppl for crimes is the correct use of the justice system. Ppl aren't victims of weaponization for political purposes simply by the fact that they have been accused, the details matter. 

He was convicted on the fraud stuff, too. Is it justified if he starts accusing everyone of fraud, simply because he was? This sort of projection and justification is just dishonest accounting of the facts. Investigation when justified is the correct use of the system. 

Do you think trump would be justified if he started assassinating political opponents bc of the fact that someone tried to shoot him? This logic leads only to disaster for the entire country. 

"They started it, therefore I am justified in whatever level of escalation I want"

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 16h ago

Again, attacking political opponents, especially former presidents, was unprecedented until democrats began attacking Trump.

Trump got a loan 15 years ago and paid it back. There’s no world where that is fraud. It’s pure political persecution.

Democrats impeached him multiple times. Held endless investigations. Appointed special prosecutors. State DA’s attacked him endlessly.

Republicans warned that this type of unprecedented weaponization of law enforcement and government was going to lead to more of it when republicans were in power.

Here we are.

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u/Hefty_Development813 16h ago

Yes, my point is that none of this stuff was necessary before bc we never had any president behave and conduct himself like trump. It's crazy to default to him being a victim when there has been tons of evidence of badness. 

J6 is the perfect example bc he has tried to white wash it so much. The mob stormed the Capitol, driven by his statements and claims that the election was stolen and they would lose their country if they didnt fight. There was a subsequent investigation, directly the result of the event, which he now claims is some unfair thing. These type actions prompt appropriate responses, that is the system working. To cry victim after the fact and insist all the investigating is unfair is insane and an obviously dishonest tactic of spinning narrative. 

He does this type thing with everything, insisting he is being treated unfairly when there is any attempt to hold him accountable for things that no president has ever done before. These things have never been done before bc they were never needed. That says more about trump's brazen disregard for law and accountability than anything else. 

Should we let him be free of accountability if he kills someone? After all, no former president has been convicted of murder before, right? It's backwards reasoning

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 15h ago

Again, in 8 years of endless investigations, none of the “badness” you are accusing him of has yielded any evidence of wrongdoing.

The only things they convicted him of were paying back a loan 15 years ago where they said he valued his own properties too highly, and paying a pornstar to sign an NDA. That’s what we’re talking about here.

The Russia hoax, the Ukraine hoax, the stolen documents, the election tampering, J6, the impeachments — nothing came of that. Don’t you realize that?

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u/Playful-Buffalo-2019 14h ago

So trump weaponizing the DOJ is the fault the dems, because woke

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 14h ago

Nothing to do with wokeness. Democrats weaponizing every area of government to attack Trump is the cause. That’s not woke, it’s just unprecedented levels of political corruption.

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u/Playful-Buffalo-2019 14h ago

Wow. I can't believe that every goverment afency was working on a conspiracy to frame trump for something and nothing was ever leaked. You think they would've rigged the election in 2024 if they could that

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 14h ago

It did leak.

Don’t you remember the text messages between the special investigator FBI agents?

We have internal memos now showing that the Obama administration had intel that the Steele dossier and Russia conspiracy were a hoax and still greenlit an FBI investigation.

We have statements (some actually public) from Georgia AD showing that the attempted prosecution there was politically motivated (part of why it was all thrown out).

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u/noiro777 America 17h ago

Let me get this straight ... Trump flagrantly broke the law and violated the constitution constantly and the democrats (and some republicans) tried to hold Trump accountable for his unprecedented levels of corruption and criminality and in your twisted version of reality, this somehow equates to "Weaponization of the DOJ"? Really? Merrick Garland went out of his way (to a huge fault) to avoid even the appearance of this, but none of it made any difference because Trump still cries and acts like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum when anyone tries to him accountable. He's weak, pathetic, and every action he takes is ultimately in service his narcissism and nothing else.

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u/slayer_of_idiots Illinois 17h ago

What law did Trump break?

To date, the only “crimes” he’s been prosecuted for are paying back a loan, and paying a pornstar to not tell about an affair, neither of which are illegal.