Washington CNN —
Within hours of taking office, President Donald Trump terminated the Secret Service detail that was assigned to his former national security adviser John Bolton, Bolton confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
Bolton, who left the Trump White House in November 2019, has required ongoing US Secret Service protection because of threats against him from Iran. Trump initially terminated his protection after he left his administration in the first term, but President Joe Biden restored it once he took office.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has made this decision,” Bolton said in a statement to CNN. “Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to once again extend Secret Service 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.”
In August 2022, the Justice Department charged an Iranian national and member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accusing them of attempting to arrange the murder of Bolton.
On Monday, as one of his first acts in office, Trump revoked Bolton’s security clearance – one of scores of former national security officials who lost their clearances with a signature of the new president.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.