Trump's new indictment gets chilling comparison to Stalin's secret police by expert

Former White House ethics counsel Norm Eisen appeared amped up on MSNBC's "The Weeknight" Thursday about the criminal indictment of President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton, going so far as to compare it to the purges of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Eisen's co-panelist, former prosecutor Kristy Greenberg, noted this case stands apart from many of Trump's other politically charged indictments, including against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, because the charges — which involve mishandling of classified information — appear to have more merit than the others, and perhaps even comparable to the criminal indictment of Trump himself for hoarding documents at Mar-a-Lago.

But Eisen wasn't convinced.

"This is, based on what we know now, way too soon to compare to Trump," said Eisen. "There's no indication that Bolton tried to hide the material when he was notified of the investigation. Indeed, if you look at the record, it looks like the Biden administration passed on the prosecution."

Additionally, "there's not a single document specified in this indictment apart from diary entries. For centuries, senior government officials have kept diaries. That's not the same as a document that's marked TS/SCI. And when you look at the pattern, Biden wasn't saying prosecute my enemies. He wasn't naming the enemies."

"When you look at the pattern here, it reminds me of what the head of Stalin's secret police, Lavrentiy Beria, said to Stalin: Show me the man, I'll find you the crime," said Eisen. "That's what they're doing with John Bolton here."

"So I think because it's classified, we don't know what the evidence is, whether it's benign or concerning, I think we need to reserve judgment," he added. "But given the suspicious circumstances, boy, I would not rush to say that we know that Bolton is guilty or not. This is a place where innocent until proven guilty, in the context of how Trump has behaved and his Justice Department — that axiom is underlined, highlighted and in bold."

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