Former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno joined Chicago’s Morning Answer to discuss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s defense of his own record and the Justice Department’s handling of politically charged cases — as well as the new indictment of former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Moreno, who served in the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and later on the FBI’s 9/11 Review Commission, said Smith’s recent interview with Andrew Weissmann was “an hour and twenty minutes of nonsense.” Weissmann, best known for leading the Russia collusion probe, conducted what Moreno described as a “softball” conversation that revealed little beyond “the same script former prosecutors are taught to recite — that they’re above politics and just follow the evidence.”
Moreno dismissed that portrayal as implausible. “When you look at Jack Smith’s record, especially his handling of the Trump prosecutions, you can’t take seriously the idea that politics plays no role,” he said. Smith, Moreno noted, previously made headlines for his aggressive prosecution of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell — a case unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court. “That’s who Jack Smith is: an overzealous prosecutor willing to stretch the law as far as it will go.”
Turning to the new criminal case against former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Moreno said the charges are serious and could expose “the arrogance of Washington insiders who think the rules don’t apply to them.” Bolton faces 18 counts of mishandling classified information, including sharing some of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence with family members. “If the allegations are true, that’s exactly the kind of breach that gets people killed,” Moreno said.
He noted that unlike former President Trump, who had the legal authority to declassify materials, Bolton did not. “This isn’t a gray area,” he said. “If you take information out of a secure facility or share it electronically, that’s mishandling classified information — period.”
Moreno also pointed to earlier litigation between the Trump administration and Bolton over his memoir, in which a federal judge warned that the book could jeopardize national security. “Bolton was on notice,” Moreno said. “He knew the risks and published anyway.”
While acknowledging that political motives have tainted many high-profile prosecutions in recent years, Moreno said accountability must still apply equally. “If you cheered the prosecutions of Donald Trump and argued that no one is above the law, you can’t turn around now and say this is vindictive,” he said. “You can’t have one standard for your political enemies and another for your friends.”