• The Wall Street Journal accused President Trump of weaponizing federal law enforcement in a Friday editorial.
• The criticism came after FBI agents raided the home and office of former adviser John Bolton.
• The paper argued the move signals Trump’s second term is being defined by personal vengeance.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — The Wall Street Journal delivered a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump on Friday, warning that his FBI’s raid on the home of John Bolton, the former national security adviser turned outspoken critic, reflects an “ominous turn” in the president’s second term.

Federal agents executed the search at Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, residence at dawn, in what officials described as part of a long-simmering national security probe into classified materials. A senior U.S. official claimed the investigation had been shelved for “political reasons” years ago but was recently revived under FBI Director Kash Patel. Patel himself took to social media to defend the action, writing: “NO ONE is above the law … @FBI agents on mission.”

A Politically Charged Raid

The raid came just days after Trump publicly reaffirmed his vow to root out enemies and consolidate executive power. The Journal noted that while Trump once promised voters he was focused on policy goals over vendettas, “vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how he will define success in his second term.”

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Bolton, who has called Trump’s thinking “mush,” has long been a thorn in the president’s side. His memoir, The Room Where It Happened, angered Trump after it was cleared through the standard pre-publication review. The Journal suggested the revival of that book controversy explains much about Friday’s events.

“The presidential id is now unchained,” the editorial warned, arguing that aides like Patel no longer serve as constraints but as enablers.

Critics Weigh In

Vice President JD Vance defended the probe on NBC’s Meet the Press, citing “broad concern” beyond classified documents. Still, even some conservatives suggested the raid echoed the very kind of politicized justice Trump once decried.

Legal experts said reviving the investigation years later risks undermining confidence in law enforcement. “It has the appearance of retribution, not oversight,” one analyst told The Hill. Others recalled the Mar-a-Lago documents dispute during Trump’s first term, which similarly stirred debate over selective enforcement.

A Pattern of Retaliation

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The Journal further cited Trump’s removal of protective details for Bolton and other former officials, including Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook, even after Iran was accused of plotting to assassinate them. Analysts described the move as signaling to Tehran that such figures were exposed.

“This is the kind of gratuitous viciousness that has increasingly defined Mr. Trump’s return to office,” the editorial read, likening the moment to Trump’s push to expand executive authority earlier this year.

The Bolton raid also comes amid Trump’s ongoing battles with state and federal courts, where judges have sometimes scaled back or tossed penalties in high-profile cases. Just this month, a New York appellate court threw out nearly half a billion dollars in fines in a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

A Growing Divide

For Trump’s critics, the Journal’s editorial adds to a mounting chorus warning of a presidency increasingly defined by retribution politics. For allies, the raid marks a continuation of his promise to hold disloyal officials accountable.

“This is a huge win for Donald Trump’s enemies,” said one former Justice Department official. “But in the long run, it could backfire by portraying him as weaponizing the FBI.”

Supporters on Truth Social applauded Patel’s show of force, echoing Trump’s frequent assertion that the “deep state” requires aggressive house-cleaning. Still, the Journal warned, conflating national security with personal grievances could invite blowback.

The editorial concluded: “The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.”

Is Trump’s campaign of retribution strengthening his hand — or undermining the credibility of U.S. institutions in ways that will be difficult to repair?

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