John Bolton, once one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers but now one of his fiercest critics, says he’s uneasy about losing his Secret Service protection—especially after
his home and office were raided by federal agents last week.
Speaking at an online forum on Monday that analyzed Trump’s recent summit with South Korea’s president, the former national security adviser was asked directly if he feels safe in today’s political climate. Bolton, who has previously been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, didn’t hide his concern.
“On inauguration day, President Trump withdrew my Secret Service protection,” Bolton said. “So yes, I feel concerned about that, more than anything else. But you either let it overwhelm you, or you keep going. I plan to keep going.”
His comments followed a blistering post he made on X, where he mocked Trump’s foreign policy and took aim at the FBI raid on his home.
“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,” Bolton wrote. He accused the administration of collapsing “in confusion and haste,” suggesting Trump’s push for a Nobel Peace Prize may be faltering as well.
According to a source familiar with the case, the FBI’s searches in Maryland and Washington, D.C., were part of a national security probe into whether Bolton mishandled classified information. The Justice Department has scrutinized him before—suing and investigating him in 2020 over his memoir *The Room Where It Happened*, which painted a damning picture of Trump’s presidency. Bolton has long denied wrongdoing, insisting the White House tried to block his book simply because it was critical of Trump.
Bolton’s Secret Service detail was originally put in place after U.S. officials confirmed threats against his life from Iran. With that protection now gone, he says the stakes feel higher.
Meanwhile, Trump has publicly distanced himself from the raids. Over the weekend, he told reporters he only learned about the searches from television and dismissed Bolton as “a very unpatriotic guy.”
Bolton, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has warned repeatedly that Trump is unfit for office. But with federal agents at his door and no security detail at his side, his criticism of the president now comes with added personal risk. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, Wikimedia commons.
