Trump Orders Secret Service to Stop Protecting Top Critic Despite Threats to His Life: 'I Am Disappointed But Not Surprised'

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump wasted no time ordering the Secret Service to stop protecting his former national security adviser, John Bolton, despite ongoing threats to Bolton's life, including plots by Iranian agents.

Bolton, a prominent critic of Trump, expressed his dismay on X saying, "I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service.... 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."

Bolton went on to note the ongoing nature of these threats, referencing not only his own security concerns but also the recent assassination attempt against Trump.

Trump had previously terminated his security detail after Bolton's 2019 departure from the White House. However, President Joe Biden reinstated the protection in 2021, despite Bolton's frequent critiques of Biden's policies.

"Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden's national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to once again extend Secret Service protection to me," Bolton noted.

"The American people can judge for themselves which president made the right call," he added.

Bolton's memoir, "The Room Where It Happened," painted a damning portrait of Trump's leadership. "Trump is unfit to be president," Bolton wrote in the book per Reuters, which details the 17 months he spent as Trump's national security adviser.

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