Vice President JD Vance is facing strong criticism from legal and political experts after commenting on the FBI’s seven-hour raid Friday morning on former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton’s Maryland home and Washington, D.C. office, reportedly in a search for classified documents.

“The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search John Bolton’s home was based on intelligence collected overseas by the C.I.A., according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation,” The New York Times reported. “It involved the mishandling of classified material by Bolton, the people said.”

But some critics charge the raid is retribution for Bolton’s past and present criticism of the Trump administration. Indeed, reportedly during the raid, Bolton tweeted: “Russia has not changed its goal: drag Ukraine into a new Russian Empire. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede territory it already holds and the remainder of Donetsk, which it has been unable to conquer. Zelensky will never do so. Meanwhile, meetings will continue because Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but I don’t see these talks making any progress.”

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Speaking to NBC News (video below), Vice President Vance delivered remarks that suggested the wall constructed after Watergate to separate the White House — including both the president and vice president — from the U.S. Department of Justice may have been compromised, some suggested.

“We’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton,” Vance told NBC News’ Kristen Welker, drawing criticism.

“And so if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come,” he also said. “And like I said, if there’s no crime here, we’re not gonna prosecute it.”

Experts responded swiftly.

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Juliette Kayyem is a CNN senior national security analyst and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs.

“’We’re’ is the tell,” she wrote. “Who is ‘we’ when the Department of Justice is supposed to be free of political influence,” Kayyem asked.

“‘We’??” wrote U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY). “JD Vance (and the WH) are clearly involved in — and likely directing — the DOJ investigation of Trump nemesis John Bolton.”

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“Everyone is focusing on the ‘early stages’ remark, but the telling word he used was ‘we’re.’ If this were any other administration, the FBI would be acting independently of the executive branch,” noted The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Rob Tornoe.

“So is the VP @JDVance part of the ‘we’ who are directing an investigation into one of his most vocal critics? Why is that not the natural and horrifying follow up question here?” asked Professor of Law Joseph Mastrosimone.

“It’s notable his response isn’t ‘The Justice Department is operating independently and I don’t have any firsthand knowledge about the investigation,'” wrote Business Insider legal correspondent Jacob Shamsian.

“The Vice President has absolutely no place in the ‘We’ who are investigating a private citizen. Totally corrupt,” declared former Biden White House official Jesse Lee.

Watch the video below or at this link.

JD Vance: “We’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton … if we think Ambassador Bolton committed a crime, of course eventually prosecutions will come … there’s a broad concern about Ambassador Bolton.” pic.twitter.com/p7Velzni8l

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2025

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Image via Reuters 

In what would be an unprecedented act and an escalation of his current occupation of Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump announced that he is willing to deploy U.S. Armed Forces to cities including Chicago and New York, after sending thousands of National Guard troops and FBI, DEA, DHS, ATF, and ICE agents to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital.

The President’s remarks came shortly after the Pentagon announced it will arm the 2,000 National Guard troops currently in Washington, D.C.

Deploying the U.S. Military to a major American city in peacetime—without a national emergency, without invoking the Insurrection Act, and without a governor’s request—would risk violating the Posse Comitatus Act.

“We haven’t had to bring in the regular military, which we’re willing to do, if we have to,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, speaking about his occupation of Washington, D.C. “And after we do this, we’ll go to another location, and we’ll make it safe also. We’re going to make our country very safe, we’re going to make our cities very, very safe.”

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“Chicago’s a mess,” Trump charged. “You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent, and we’ll straighten one out probably next. That’ll be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”

“And the people in Chicago,” Trump claimed without offering evidence, “are screaming for us to come. They’re wearing red hats, just like this one. But they’re wearing red hats.”

“African American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘Please, please, President Trump, come to Chicago. Please.'”

“I did great with the Black vote, as you know, and they want something to happen.”

Trump won just 15% of Black voters in 2024. 83% voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“So I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York.”

Critics blasted the President’s remarks.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker wrote: “Things People are Begging for: 1. Cheaper groceries 2. No Medicaid and SNAP cuts 3. Release of the Epstein Files.”

READ MORE: ‘Pure Mobspeak’: Trump Slammed for Claiming No Role in Bolton Raid but ‘Could Be the One’

“Things People are NOT begging for: 1. An authoritarian power grab of major cities.”

Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton added: “If Trump wants to take his ego trip on tour, he picked the wrong city. Chicago doesn’t bow down to kings or roll out the red carpet for dictators. As a Black woman from the South Side, I can assure you @realdonaldtrump, your political circus isn’t welcome here.”

“Chicago isn’t going to sit down for this s—,” commented attorney Seth Abramson. “It’s illegal, it’s un-American, and it comes very close to declaring a war on America.”

“He said it. Chicago is next,” wrote former journalist Kat Abughazaleh. “This is an authoritarian order being pushed by a racist wannabe-dictator to terrorize one of America’s bluest and most diverse cities.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump says he’s willing to deploy the “regular military” to American cities, the adds that “Chicago is next and then we’ll help with New York” pic.twitter.com/w0stIFzYEr

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 22, 2025

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George Conway, the prominent conservative attorney and “Never Trump” Republican turned independent, sounded a dire warning hours before President Donald Trump overnight threatened a “complete and total” occupation of Washington, D.C.

The President has already executed a takeover of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and FBI, ATF, DEA, DHS, and ICE agents to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital, despite massive opposition from the city’s residents. Trump declared a “crime emergency” on August 11, when, according to experts, there was none.

In his overnight statement, Trump threatened D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, declaring she “must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City!”

READ MORE: ‘Pure Mobspeak’: Trump Slammed for Claiming No Role in Bolton Raid but ‘Could Be the One’

Speaking to MeidasTouch News in video published on Thursday (excerpt below), Conway warned that President Trump might never leave the White House if he has complete control of the city’s police force and National Guard.

“If Donald Trump gets control of policing in the capital to the extent that he seems to desire, which is he wants complete control, because that’s just the way he is, he wants complete control of anything he deems important to him,” Conway began.

“Think about the consequences of that, because what would have happened if he had had that kind of control on January 6, when he didn’t call out the National Guard to defend the Capitol?” Conway posited. “What if he actually did have control of the Metropolitan Police and the National Guard in a way in the way that he wants?”

When asked, “What would have happened on January 20th?” Conway replied that Trump “would have remained in office because there would not have been the election of Joe Biden on January 6th, and he would have declared an emergency.”

“And, lo and behold, what do you do when you have an emergency? You call in the National Guard,” Conway continued. “He would have never left.

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“Some people were saying that what they’re doing in D.C. is going to be a model for other cities. But I think they’re just cutting straight to the chase, because if you want to have a coup against the constitutional order, you want to control the capital city, and if he has control of the policing in the city of Washington, you know, there’s no —how do you stop him?”

“Who’s gonna tell him to leave the White House?”

Others appear to have arrived at the same conclusion.

Journalist Wajahat Ali separately on Friday afternoon warned: “Donald Trump isn’t going to leave willingly or peacefully. Republicans are gearing up for martial law. You all aren’t paying attention.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

“If you want to have a coup against the constitutional order, you want to control the capital city. And if he has control of the policing in the city of Washington…Who’s gonna tell him to leave the White House?”@gtconway3d joins JVL: pic.twitter.com/3t2sGc6Fav

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) August 22, 2025

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Image via Reuters