Renato Mariotti is a former federal prosecutor, legal analyst, practicing lawyer, and activist who fights for the rule of law and the protection of our electoral systems from attack.
After graduating from the University of Chicago and Yale Law School, Renato clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals and worked as a litigation attorney. After five years in private practice, he returned home to Chicago to become a federal prosecutor.
Renato spent almost ten years as a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted hundreds of cases in a wide variety of areas including child exploitation, human trafficking, cybercrime, gun trafficking, tax evasion, fraud, obstruction of justice, public corruption, narcotics trafficking, and more.
As a federal prosecutor, he was best known as the first person in the nation to prosecute a high-frequency trader under a special provision of the Dodd-Frank Act. It was a landmark case that signaled a sea change in the government’s ability to enforce securities regulations in the era of computer-aided trading.
In 2016, Renato became a partner at the law firm of Thompson Coburn, where he represents clients in many types of high-stakes litigation matters. Most recently, he obtained a full acquittal for a client after a successful jury trial against the Department of Justice.
Following the election of Donald Trump, Renato began speaking out against the President’s discriminatory and unconstitutional policies. His clear and thoughtful explanations of complicated legal matters quickly earned him a large following on Twitter, and Renato has become a national voice on Trump’s obstruction of justice and other legal issues created by Trump’s administration.
Renato is a CNN Legal Analyst and the host of this podcast, which was launched in mid-2018. He is the Legal Affairs Columnist for Politico Magazine, and has also authored dozens of articles that have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, and other publications. Renato also advises Members of Congress on multiple oversight investigations.