Former national security adviser John Bolton is back at his Bethesda, Md. home after it was raided by the FBI this morning.
REUTERS
The 76-year-old, clad in his usual pinstriped suit, waved to reporters gathered on the street outside, but did not stop to talk.
Agents raided Bolton's home and his office in downtown Washington, DC, leaving with several boxes full of material after a federal judge signed off on both searches.
The late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, told Justice Department officials last month that President Trump was “never inappropriate with anybody” in the time the disgraced financier and future commander in chief were friends.
Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, said last month that President Trump was “never inappropriate with anybody” in the time Epstein and Trump were friends. Getty Images
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges, sat for two days of interviews led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in Tallahassee, Fla., last month.
Audio and transcripts of the interviews were released Friday as the Trump administration seeks to quash rampant speculation about Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019.
Bolton, now 76, served as Trump’s third national security adviser from April 2018 until his firing in September 2019, after which he began drafting a tell-all about his time in the Trump White House.
The book, “The Room Where It Happened,” was released in June 2020 following a prolonged review by the White House National Security Council that delayed publication.
President Trump says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan agreed to give the US government a 10% stake in the pioneering chipmaker.
"I said, 'I think you should pay us 10% of your company.' And they said, 'Yes.' That's about $10 billion," Trump said Friday.
President Trump says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan agreed to give the US government a 10% stake in the pioneering chipmaker. AP
"I said, 'I think it would be good having the United States as your partner.' And he agreed to do it. And I think it's a great deal," the president said of his recent meeting with the Malaysia-born tech executive.
"He walked in wanting to keep his job, and he ended up giving us $10 billion for the United States. And we do a lot of deals like that. I'll do more of them."
"He walked in wanting to keep his job, and he ended up giving us $10 billion for the United States. And we do a lot of deals like that. I'll do more of them," Trump said. AP
Trump officials had been discussing converting grants given by the Biden administration into a continuing stake in the company.
Trump said he may seek stakes in other companies, specifically mentioning Nvidia and his willingness to relax "restrictive covenants" on the firm.
"I will absolutely give someone an opening to do a lot of business," Trump said. "And if I do that, I think the country should be paid."
President Trump urged House Republicans to be "totally open" with files from the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile ring investigation when those files are delivered by the Justice Department Friday.
"I'm support of keeping it totally open, I couldn't care less," said Trump, who previously denounced continued public interest in his one-time friend, who died in 2019 in an alleged jail suicide.
Trump repeated his assertion that it was a "hoax" by Democrats to suggest he did anything wrong in connection with Epstein.
"Bill Clinton was on his plane and went to the island supposedly 28 times. I don't want to bring that up, frankly," Trump told reporters. "Larry Summers, he was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein."
President Trump called his former national security adviser John Bolton a "sleazebag" Friday after his home and office were raided by the FBI.
"I thought he was a sleazebag, actually. And he suffers major Trump Derangement Syndrome, but so do a lot of people and they're not being affected by anything we do," Trump said.
"I thought he was a sleazebag, actually. And he suffers major Trump Derangement Syndrome," Trump said about his former national security adviser, John Bolton. AFP via Getty Images
John Bolton's house is seen with police outside, as FBI agents search the house on Friday. AP
"If you believe the news, which I do, I guess his house was raided today. But my house was raided also."
Trump said he was uninvolved in the decision to raid Bolton, but could commiserate with his former employee-turned-critic, noting the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago to retrieve classified documents.
When talking about the raid at Bolton's house, Trump said, "I guess his house was raided today. But my house was raided also," referring to the FBI raid in 2022 on Mar-a-Lago to retrieve classified documents. REUTERS
"They went through [first lady Melania Trump's] drawers, as the expression goes," Trump said. "I know the feeling. It's not a good feeling."
Vladimir Putin sent President Trump a photo of them together at last week's summit in Alaska, but Trump warned in a menacing tone that he was unhappy with Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine this week and that "I better be very happy" with peace-talk progress.
"I was just sent a picture by someone who wants to be [at FIFA World Cup events] badly," Trump said, holding up the glossy image.
"I was just sent a picture by someone who wants to be [at FIFA World Cup events] badly," Trump said, holding up an image of him with Putin from last week's summit that the Russian president sent him. AP
"He may be coming and he may not, depending on what happens ... I thought it was a nice picture of him — OK of me, but nice of him. I thought it was very nice that it was sent to me."
Trump added of peace talks: "Over the next two weeks, we're going to find out which way it's going to go — and I better be very happy."
"He may be coming and he may not, depending on what happens...," Trump said. AP
But the president left his options open.
"Then I'm going to make a decision as to what we do," he said. "And it's going to be a very important decision. And that's whether or not it's massive sanctions or massive tariffs, or both, or do we do nothing and say, 'It's your fight'?"
President Trump said Friday that Chicago will be the next city to receive a surge in federal assistance for policing — followed by New York City.
"African-American ladies" are saying, "Please, President Trump, come to Chicago," the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
"So I think Chicago will be our next. And then we'll help with New York."
Vice President JD Vance praised the ongoing DC crackdown, saying: "We had murder rates just a few weeks ago that rivaled some of the worst Third World cities ... We allowed it to happen because we had broken leadership in Washington, DC, and unfortunately sitting behind the Resolute Desk."
President Trump is again returning to the subject of his crime crackdown in the District of Columbia.
President Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday. AP
On DC Mayor Muriel Bowser: "Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won't be mayor very long, because we'll take it over with the federal government … it was a crime-infested rat hole, and they do have a lot of rats. We're getting rid of them too."
"Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won't be mayor very long, because we'll take it over with the federal government," Trump said. AP
And on the capital's Metropolitan Police Department: "They have some people who shouldn't be police, actually. But they have some great people there."
President Trump revealed Friday that he "immediately" got rid of President Joe Biden's chair when he returned to power in January — saying that the Oval Office was unclean.
"This beautiful office ... when we took it over it was dirty, not clean. I immediately changed the chair," Trump said.
"This beautiful office ... when we took it over it was dirty, not clean," President Trump said about returning to the Oval Office and getting rid of President Joe Biden's chair. AP
Trump also sent the Resolute Desk away briefly for refurbishment and added new decorations to the office. AP
In better-known changes, Trump also sent the Resolute Desk away briefly for refurbishment and applied gold leaf and new decorations to the office.
President Trump is back in the Oval Office and has just announced that the draw for the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament will take place at the Kennedy Center Dec. 5.
The US is co-hosting the newly expanded 48-nation tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino shows President Trump the World Cup Trophy in the Oval Office on Friday. Getty Images
Trump announced that the draw for the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament will take place at the Kennedy Center later this year. AP
The World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 next year, with the final match set to be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is in the Oval Office with the president and has the World Cup with him.