John Bolton pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday. The conduct was diary entries he shared with his wife and daughter. David Petraeus did something comparable and received a misdemeanor. Bolton gets a felony, a $2.25 million fine, and up to five years in prison.

Iran struck Israel again Saturday night. The Strait tightened. Trump walked off the Meet the Press interview Sunday, telling Kristen Welker the California primary was being stolen before the votes were counted. The haystacks this weekend were enormous and loud and doing exactly what haystacks do.

While they burned, Trump called Bolton "a real lowlife" and said he hoped there would be others. "It's not a list," he told reporters. "But I think there'll be others."

It is a list. James Comey indicted twice, the second time for posting a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read "86 47." The DOJ's position is that a reasonable person would interpret beach shells as a threat to the president. Letitia James charged with mortgage fraud after winning a civil judgment against the Trump Organization. Adam Schiff under active investigation. Don Lemon indicted and arrested in Los Angeles. A Fauci aide indicted for pandemic documents. The Southern Poverty Law Center charged for paying informants to infiltrate hate groups. E. Jean Carroll's funder investigated for money laundering and conspiracy. She is 82 years old.

Every name on that list criticized the president. Every case runs through the same office, signed by the same man. Todd Blanche, Trump's personal criminal defense attorney, the man who sat next to him at the hush money trial, is now the acting Attorney General of the United States.

Former DOJ lawyer Jonathan Wroblewski published a report about all of it this week. He called it "vengeance masquerading as justice."

There will be others.

Category I flag: The concurrent use of the Department of Justice under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to prosecute the president's political critics to felony convictions while Blanche simultaneously signed a settlement permanently closing all IRS examination of the president's family finances meets the abuse of power standard and the obstruction of justice standard under Article II: use of federal prosecutorial resources for partisan political retaliation against individuals in proceedings adverse to the president.

THE RECEIPTS -- June 5, 2026

Bolton pleaded guilty to one felony count, $2.25 million fine, up to 60 months; conduct was diary entries shared with wife and daughter: NBC News, June 4, 2026. ms.now/news/john-bolton…

Petraeus received misdemeanor for comparable conduct: NBC News, June 4, 2026. ms.now/news/john-bolton…

Trump: "I think there'll be others" and "I hope there are others": Washington Post/AOL. aol.com/news/trump-pred…

Comey indicted second time for seashells arranged "86 47"; DOJ alleges reasonable recipient would interpret as presidential threat: Axios, April 28, 2026. axios.com/2026/04/28/tr…

Full retaliatory prosecution pattern: Protect Democracy Retaliatory Action Tracker, June 2026. protectdemocracy.org/wo…

Wroblewski: "vengeance masquerading as justice": NPR, April 29, 2026. npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s…

Blanche signed IRS immunity memo permanently barring examination of Trump family finances: UPI, May 20, 2026.

-- Barron St. John | The Decoder Ring on Substack