Hi again, everyone. It is 5 o'clock here in New York. I'm Alicia Menendez in for Nicole Wallace.

A very busy day of news today. We are still pouring over the Justice Department's interview with

Elaine Maxwell. And we're keeping an eye on any developments out of Congress, where the first batch

of the Epstein files handed over to the House Oversight Committee this afternoon.

But we begin this hour with the other major breaking news today, the Trump Justice Department

making what appears to be a major escalation today in its targeting of Donald Trump's critics.

Early this morning, the FBI conducted a search, the Maryland home of John Bolton.

He is Trump's former national security advisor turned Trump critic.

Agents also later appeared at Bolton's office building in Washington, D.C.

A source close to Bolton tells NBC News it was, quote, retribution, pure and simple.

According to the FBI, the searches were court authorized, and sources tell NBC News that they were part of a national security investigation related to the handling of classified documents and potential instances of those documents being used in leaks to the media.

We do not know the specific allegations against Bolton, but here's what we do know about Donald Trump

and the man now in the crosshairs of his administration. After leaving his post, Bolton quickly

became an outspoken critic of his former boss. I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think

he has the competence to carry out the job. There really isn't any guiding principle

that I was able to discern other than what's good for Donald Trump's reelection. What he was

capable of was on a daily basis doing something more and more outrageous than he had done the day

before, all to the same end of staying in power.

I think when you challenge the Constitution itself the way Trump has done, that is an American.

Very quickly, do you agree with Mark Millie that Trump is a fascist?

You know, I don't think he's smart enough to have an ideology.

The memoir about his time in the Trump White House, a book that the administration was desperate

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