--- title: John Bolton's Super PAC Hired Cambridge Analytica description: President Donald Trump's pick for his new national security advisor has ties to Cambridge Analytica canonical: https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-23T03:33:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:44:59.574Z article:section: Politics og:title: John Bolton's Super PAC Hired Cambridge Analytica og:description: The firm is under fire for its use of Facebook data og:url: https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte87c85f755d17206/69877c29e53aba30564d7409/ap31399859038.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: John Bolton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Bolton's Super PAC Hired Cambridge Analytica twitter:description: The firm is under fire for its use of Facebook data twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte87c85f755d17206/69877c29e53aba30564d7409/ap31399859038.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's New National Security Advisor John Bolton Has Links to Cambridge Analytica > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2018 3:33 AM UTC  Ambassador John Bolton, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, speaks during Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority event in Washington on June 19, 2014. Ambassador John Bolton, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, speaks during Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority event in Washington on June 19, 2014.Molly Riley—AP by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2018 3:33 AM UTC President Donald Trump’s pick for his new national security advisor has ties to Cambridge Analytica, the voter-profiling firm currently facing criticism for its use of improperly obtained Facebook data. A super PAC run by [former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton](http://time.com/5211927/john-bolton-trump-national-security-advisor-hr-mcmaster-resign/) has paid Cambridge Analytica more than $1.1 million since 2014 for research, according to a [Center for Public Integrity review of campaign finance records](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/03/20/21623/john-bolton-eyed-trump-post-leads-super-pac-employed-cambridge-analytica). The firm also worked for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump in the 2016 elections. Trump said Thursday that effective April 9 he would [replace National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster](http://time.com/5211928/hr-mcmaster-resign-john-bolton-trump-white-house-national-security-advisor/) with Bolton, a foreign policy hawk who makes regular appearances on Fox News. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/976948306927607810) Since it was started in 2014, the John Bolton Super PAC has spent millions on independent expenditures for Republican candidates such as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and against Democrats such as New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan. A recent press release stated it [hoped to increase that spending](https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/01/04/1283549/0/en/AMBASSADOR-JOHN-BOLTON-TO-RUN-A-1-000-000-AD-CAMPAIGN-IN-SUPPORT-OF-KEVIN-NICHOLSON-FOR-U-S-SENATE-WI.html) in 2018. The super PAC was also among the first clients for Cambridge Analytica, which was suspended by Facebook this week for its handling of data. According to [a report in the New York _Times_ and the _Observer_ of London](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html), the firm culled personal data from more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission. **Read More:** [_Cambridge Analytica’s Data Was Either Valuable or Totally Worthless_](http://time.com/5207764/cambridge-analytica-facebook-data/) The report and a hidden video from a British news channel which [showed the firm’s CEO](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/politics/alexander-nix-cambridge-analytica/index.html) discussing using bribes and entrapment against public officials have led to major criticism. Facebook [suspended](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/17/politics/facebook-cambridge-analytica/index.html) the firm this week, and special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly interested in the firm’s activities, [according to ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-counsel-studies-trump-campaign-ties-cambridge-analytics/story?id=53903252). Bolton’s connection to Cambridge Analytica may have come through Robert Mercer, a billionaire conservative donor who is a major investor in the firm as well as [the largest donor](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/03/20/21623/john-bolton-eyed-trump-post-leads-super-pac-employed-cambridge-analytica) to the John Bolton Super PAC. But Bolton will probably not face questions on Capitol Hill anytime soon about his ties, as the position of national security advisor does not require Senate confirmation. Neither Bolton, the White House nor the National Security Council responded to requests for comment on the connection with Cambridge Analytica Thursday evening. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/"},"headline":"Trump's New National Security Advisor John Bolton Has Links to Cambridge Analytica","datePublished":"2018-03-23T03:33:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:44:59.574Z","description":"President Donald Trump's pick for his new national security advisor has ties to Cambridge Analytica","url":"https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/","keywords":["White House","Campaign Finance","Donald Trump","John Bolton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte87c85f755d17206/69877c29e53aba30564d7409/ap31399859038.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte87c85f755d17206/69877c29e53aba30564d7409/ap31399859038.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Bolton","caption":"John Bolton","creditText":"Molly Riley—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5212071/john-bolton-cambridge-analytica/","name":"Trump's New National Security Advisor John Bolton Has Links to Cambridge Analytica"}}]}] ```