Yahoo Movies Trump's Former National Security Advisor Says There's 'No Evidence' of 'Partisan Motive' in Mar-a-Lago Search
Chip Somodevilla/Getty John Bolton
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, says "there is no evidence" that the FBI's lawful search of the former president's Mar-a-Lago home last week was motivated by politics.
The FBI conducted a judge-approved search of Trump's home on Aug. 8 as part of a criminal investigation into whether he obstructed justice and potentially violated the Espionage Act and other national security-related statutes by holding classified White House records at his Palm Beach, Fla., resort.
Trump called the search a "weaponization of the Justice System" and "an attack by Radical Left Democrats" whom he claimed were engaged in "lawlessness," "political persecution," and a "Witch Hunt" in a statement released the same day federal agents removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked "top secret," and other materials.
But his former National Security Advisor, who worked for Trump from April 2018 until September 2019, said there is no proof to support those claims.
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"There is no evidence there is a partisan motive here," Bolton told Reuters in an interview Wednesday. "I think everybody just ought to calm down, whether you're pro-Trump or anti-Trump, and let the process work its way through."
Alex Wong/Getty From left: former President Donald Trump and former National Security Advisor John Bolton
A judge in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Fla., indicated Thursday he may be willing to unseal portions of an affidavit used to obtain a search warrant.
Media outlets want the Department of Justice to unseal the additional records associated with the warrant, which was revealed Friday with a property receipt showing what agents removed from the resort.
Trump has called for the papers to be released while the DOJ, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, opposes unsealing the affidavit because it contains sensitive information and could spook witnesses and provide a "roadmap" to its ongoing investigation, Reuters reports.
Bolton said in the interview that he understands and agrees with the DOJ's concerns.
"Probably it shouldn't be released and I think DOJ is right. And I think Trump in fact knows they don't want it released, which is why it's easy for him to call for it to be released because he knows it's not going to happen," Bolton told Reuters.
However, Bolton acknowledged keeping the documents under wraps could prove difficult given the levels of interest and how fraught the national security investigation of a former president has become.
"Justice is very reluctant to do that for good reasons," he said, "but I think they have got to be more creative here given the fire storm politically that they face."
