The FBI has executed a search warrant at the home of Russian-born US political pundit and author Dimitri Simes, who has been a vocal critic of the administration of President Joe Biden.
The search took place on Tuesday on the property located in Rappahannock County, according to a local news outlet.
The author’s son, Dimitri Simes Jr., described it as “a bandit-like intimidation attempt” by the US government in a statement released on X (formerly Twitter).
In an email on Wednesday night, FBI spokesperson Samantha Shero declined to comment on the raid, except to confirm that it had been authorized by a court, Rappahannock News has reported.
A former aide to Richard Nixon, Simes is a naturalized US citizen who immigrated to the country in 1973. He was described by US media as providing “a sympathetic platform for the Russian government in the heart of the DC policy establishment,” after Senator Rand Paul named him as a foreign policy adviser in 2014.
In 1999, he published a book on Russia’s search for a new place in the world following the collapse of the USSR. He was also the publisher and CEO of the National Interest magazine, which advocates a realist approach to international relations and geopolitics.
Simes was one of the people investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as a suspected contact between Donald Trump and the Russian government. The report finalized in 2019, which failed to find any evidence of collusion between Moscow and Trump’s 2016 campaign, also vindicated the political expert, confirming that his activities were normal for how DC operates.
His family reportedly owns a 132.6-acre property in Rappahannock County, which they bought in 2021 for $1.63 million.