Disgraced former National Security Advisor John Bolton was awakened at the stroke of midnight on January 21st by Secret Service agents, who delivered a notice to him: President Donald Trump had officially revoked his protective detail.
Recall that President Donald Trump revoked the Secret Service protection of John Bolton on Monday.
Trump revoked Bolton’s security clearance in an executive order on his first day in office.
The order read, “Former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton published a memoir for monetary gain after he was terminated from his White House position in 2019. The book was rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government. The memoir’s reckless treatment of sensitive information undermined the ability of future presidents to request and obtain candid advice on matters of national security from their staff. Publication also created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed.”
“To remedy these abuses of the public trust, this Order directs the revocation of any active or current security clearances held by: (i) the former intelligence officials who engaged in misleading and inappropriate political coordination with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign; and (ii) John R. Bolton.”
When asked why he took his details away, Trump blasted Bolton for influencing George Bush’s decision to significantly escalate military actions in the Middle East.
“I thought he was a very dumb person but I used him well because every time people saw me come into a meeting with Bolton standing behind me, they thought that he’d attack them because he was a warmonger,” Trump said.
WATCH:
NEW: John Bolton was woken up at 12:01 a.m. on January 21 by Secret Service who told him Trump had revoked his protective detail, according to @susancrabtree.
Bolton was reportedly told by agents that he would only have them for 12 more hours.
During a press conference, Trump… pic.twitter.com/wOErBSQH0R
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 23, 2025
Bolton, who served under Trump from 2018 to 2019, was granted a protective detail in 2021 by Joe Biden after U.S. intelligence reportedly uncovered an Iranian assassination plot targeting him.
The Department of Justice charged Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with attempting to pay individuals in the United States $300,000 to kill Bolton, likely in retaliation for the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
The disgraced former national security advisor, fired by Trump in 2019, whined about losing the protection in a post on X.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service.
Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021.
The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me.
That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump’s own assassination. The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call.”
I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service. Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend…
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) January 21, 2025
According to RealClearPolitics National Political Correspondent Susan Crabtree, the termination of Bolton’s security detail was communicated to him by the Secret Service late Monday night, with protection ceasing at noon the following day.
“I’m told John Bolton was awakened at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 21 by Secret Service agents telling him President Trump had revoked his protective detail and would only have it for 12 hours longer,” Crabtree wrote, which was also confirmed by Bolton’s spokesperson.
More from Crabtree:
TRUMP’S DECISION TO CANCEL JOHN BOLTON’S SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION:
This was highly anticipated. Just last week Secret Service agents were telling me they were tired of protecting John Bolton and other less high-profile former U.S. officials and extended Biden family members, who have been receiving protection for years.
Before Pres. Trump was sworn in, the USSS was protecting 37 former presidents, vice presidents, their families, and U.S. officials, INCLUDING former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned under pressure from Congress after her disastrous testimony about the J13 Butler failures.
As of Trump’s swearing in, the agency added 18 additional members of the Trump and Vance families, plus new cabinet members. There’s usually some transition time — several months or a year, depending on the individual — in which the Secret Service protects members of the outgoing administration, such as Cabinet-level positions and extended family members (former Presidents usually have some form of Secret Service protection for life. VPs usually get if for 6 mos after leaving office, such as Pence, Biden, Cheney and Gore). But Harris, I’m told, is set to get 18 mos of protection because she ran for president.
Members of a former president’s family members who had protection usually get it extended for six months.
That decision, however, is entirely up to Trump.
The USSS started protecting the White House chief of staff and national security adviser only after 9/11, according to a Secret Service source.
The FBI thwarted an Iranian assassination plot against Bolton in 2022, and the Justice Dept. prosecuted those involved in it.
But Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former first-term National Security Adviser post-Bolton, complained last year that Biden had dropped his USSS protection despite an elevated and ongoing Iranian threat against Trump’s life and his closest national security aides. That threat has been ongoing since Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian Gen. Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020.
UPDATE: I’m told John Bolton was awakened at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 21 by Secret Service agents telling him President Trump had revoked his protective detail and would only have it for 12 hours longer. https://t.co/jbA0RNstWz
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 22, 2025
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