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Why Andrew Weissmann Is So Despised
The list is long for all the people who have been criticized and condemned by the Right for their participation in the Trump-Russia fiasco. Many on the list pretend to be public servants but, unfortunately, they are political hacks who have shown they are willing to do just about anything to get rid of Donald Trump. But from my perspective, one man has been mentioned only in passing, and he deserves to be in the glaring spotlight of justice. His many years of unethical behavior and manipulation need to be not just called out; there must be a way to hold him to account.
His name is Andrew Weissmann.
On paper, his credentials are impressive. But his actions over the years have manipulated the legal system, misled jurists, intimidated innocent people, and led the Special Counsel team in an unprecedented effort to remove a president. I’d like to give you some background on Weissmann, and also learn from all of you if there is any way to hold him to account after all this time.
First, it was no secret that Andrew Weissmann had a reputation for no-holds-barred efforts as a prosecutor. He ran high-profile cases involving New York’s mob bosses from the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, 2001-2002. Christopher Wray praised him when he was selected to direct the Enron case, 2002-2005. His history with Bob Mueller was at the FBI, and he left for private practice in 2005. He went to work under Mueller again as General Counsel in 2011, and headed the criminal fraud section of the DOJ in 2011.
As you can see, Weissmann and Mueller had plenty of time to get to know each other; that’s probably one reason that Mueller hired him for the Special Counsel team in June 2017. Weissmann was referred to as the “pitbull.” We’ll return to his most recent work for Mueller after we review his questionable prosecutorial history.
Weissman headed three task forces that would demonstrate his ruthless and in some cases, disturbing behavior. The first was Enron. Without reviewing the history of that case, Margot Cleveland of The Federalist discovered the following, after she was successful in having some of the documents from that case unsealed:
The now unsealed records expose efforts by Weissmann, and the Enron Task Force he led, to intimidate witnesses and to interfere in the attorney-client relationship of a cooperating witness. Several affidavits unsealed last week catalogued veiled threats made to witnesses the Enron defendants sought to interview. However, because many of the attorneys would speak only off the record to Enron’s attorneys, the courts refused to consider the affidavits sufficient to prove prosecutorial misconduct.
She added the following:
In addition to Weissmann’s inappropriate attempt to push [Dan] Cogdell off the case, a 17-page report unsealed on Thursday by expert witness Michael Tigar detailed many more vagrancies. Especially troubling to Tigar was the Enron Task Force’s use of ‘multiple grand juries working over several years’ not to ‘return fresh indictments or start new cases, but to make the threat of indictment real and tangible’ to the nearly 90 unindicted co-conspirators.
The case against Arthur Andersen is another example of Weissmann’s destructive behavior. He ruined Arthur Andersen, with 85,000 employees worldwide. Convicted at trial, a fatally damaged Andersen appealed. The Supreme Court eventually took the case. In 2005, the nation’s highest court overturned the conviction in a 9-0 opinion.
In the Merrill Lynch case, Weissmann sent four Merrill Lynch executives to prison for a year:
Weissmann creatively criminalized a business transaction between Merrill Lynch and Enron. Weissmann’s team made sure they did not even get bail pending their appeals, even though the charges Weissmann concocted, like those against Andersen, were literally unprecedented.
Weissmann’s prosecution devastated the lives and families of the Merrill executives, causing enormous defense costs, unimaginable stress, and torturous prison time. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conspiracy and wire fraud rulings of the case.
Although there were grumblings about Mueller hiring Weissmann, he became of high-profile interest when Judicial Watch received an email sent from Weissmann to Sally Yates, when she refused to carry out President Trump’s travel ban. Weissman wrote: “I am so proud. And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects.” Weissmann was also reported to have been at a Hillary Clinton election night party; clearly, people had reason to wonder if he was going to participate in the Mueller team without a partisan agenda.
Later public events validated people’s concerns: Weissmann ordered a pre-dawn raid by the FBI on Manafort’s home in Virginia, and the raid lasted for hours. When Manafort was put in prison, he was in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day; it’s unclear whether his sentence, which was reduced to 47 months instead of the recommended 19 to 24 years, will continue to keep him in solitary. (It was reported that the decision to keep him in solitary was to ensure his safety.)
In spite of all these questionable actions, Weissmann never was called to account, as far as the public knows. I have no way of determining if he only bent rules or broke them, or acted unethically. But he certainly ruined many lives, multiple times, and has never been held to account. For those of you who practice law, is there no recourse? Is there a chance that AG Barr will discover that Weissmann broke the law? If so, will Barr take action against Weissmann, now that he has left the government?
Andrew Weissmann left the Mueller team in March 2019. He is expected to work at New York University School of Law.
Maybe he’ll be teaching ethics.
Published in Politics
Susan, I was aware that you had read my earlier pieces on The Hon. Mr. Weissmann — a tongue in cheek adaptation of a very nice tradition in the Mississippi Bar of referring not only to Judges as Hon. but to fellow lawyers as well — as I think we might have exchanged comments about them at the time. It’s just that with this particular subject, once I get going I find it hard to stop, for several reasons not the least of which is the one you mentioned, that he just seems to go merrily on his way, totally unscathed. I think I made the point somewhere along the way that the fact that he still has a license to practice law is a very dark stain on our profession– for the life of me, I cannot understand how the DC Bar has not taken some kind of action against him. There seems to be little doubt that he engineered the early morning, guns drawn, knock the door down, raid on Manafort’s home and even less doubt that he lead the disgraceful raid on Roger Stone’s home and frightened his wife, who is deaf, almost to death. Thanks for your post, again, as it has prompted a good and much-needed discussion of the reasons he is so detested.
Sincerely, Jim
@susanquinn I believe a close family member of mine also is a sociopath, and I did some research. Found some apt behavior comparisons in this book: Confessions of a Sociopath
There was an article by the same author. It made my blood run cold. Thanks for the reference, @indyymb.
I long ago abandoned any belief that a profession can police itself without significant pressure from the outside. The tendency to protect ones’ own is just too strong. This pressure most often comes from the press, but absent that, is there any other way?
Important post Susan. Sorry, late to the party.
Weissman and the Columbo Case
To pile on from Sara Carter regarding the Columbo case”
According to David Schoen, Civil Rights Defense Attorney and outspoken critic of the Mueller probe: Mueller and Weissman have together been connected to the two biggest corruption investigations in FBI history- the Enron and Columbo cases.
“Many have suggested (Mueller) never should have been FBI Director, a position in which he then hired Weissmann to be his counsel – and, of course, Weissman presided over the No. 1 most corrupt relationship between an FBI agent (Lyn Devecchio) and his informant (Greg Scarpa, Sr.),” Schoen said.”
“The defendants in the Colombo related cases were acquitted after it was discovered that Weissmann and his team had withheld evidence. There were 16 defendants in front of 48 different jurors and 4 different judges. Three others had their convictions overturned. Two men convicted without the evidence having been revealed remain in prison, serving life sentences.”
“At one trial, Weissmann and his co-counsel expressly vouched for the integrity of the corrupt agent, concealing the corruption, and arguing to the jury that if they had any reason to believe the agent lied about anything they should acquit the defendant, according to court records and Schoen.”
Weissman and Manafort
Also from Sara Carter:
“Senior Justice Department prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann arranged a meeting with the Associated Press in April, 2016 to discuss circumstances surrounding Paul Manafort’s case before he was appointed to Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel. According to recent court filings submitted to the Eastern District of Virginia court, the meeting was held during the time a Grand Jury had convened in Manafort’s case.”
“Manafort’s lawyers are requesting a hearing based on Weissmann’s alleged improper disclosure of confidential grand jury information, non-public information, false information and potentially classified materials, the court documents state. Weissmann met with AP journalists on April 11 after reporters informed him of their own investigation into Manafort’s dealings with Ukrainian officials.”
“CourthouseNews.com points out that, according to Manafort’s attorney, Jay Nanavati, “the government turned over roughly 50,000 pages of new discovery materials to the defense on Friday, ‘ mere 19 days before the scheduled trial in this case.’” “The meeting raises serious concerns about whether a violation of grand jury secrecy occurred,” stated Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lawyer, in a motion requesting a hearing. “Based on the FBI’s own notes of the meeting, it is beyond question that a hearing is warranted.”
Pass. I have no words.
Remember that Weissmann was a member of the team before Mueller was appointed. Mueller was a figurehead and, from his appearance at his little press conference, he was a weak figurehead at best. This was Weissmann’s deal all along, assisted by a couple of other Clinton loyalists. The Volume II, in particular, is his work.
@susanquinn, as well as any other of our colleagues who might be interested in more information about this obscenely unethical “lawyer” (it is a disgrace to have to describe him as such), please take a look at a great interview of Sidney Powell and her disgust with the Mueller report and, especially, the press conference and her opinions, based on many years of experience in the Federal Criminal Law field, about this renegade we are discussing here. It can be found at: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/06/03/sidney_powell_on_mueller_americans_just_want_the_unvarnished_truth_let_the_chips_fall_where_they_may.html
To say she has very strong feelings about Weissmann would be the understatement of the century!
Sincerely, Jim
@cdor posted it in his comment #9. It’s a great interview!
To all who have mentioned and linked to various interviews given by Sidney Powell: you are all correct, but there is no substitute for reading her book, Licensed to Lie. It reads like a mystery story in some places, and has far more detail (especially about Enron) than she can cover when live or in an op-ed.
Sidney brought me into the tail end of the Enron case, and we won a key finding in the Fifth Circuit that Weissmann (and O’Bama’s last Chief White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler) had withheld favorable evidence. (The Fifth Circuit then threw it away with a convoluted “it’s not material, no-harm-no-foul” ruling that depended upon the absurdity that if the evidence had been disclosed, the Task Force would have just called different witnesses. Huh?)
Don’t know if it will make you feel better or worse, but Sidney and I spent many dozens of hours filing hundreds of pages of materials with the authorities against both Weissmann and Ruemmler over the next couple of years. (He is a member of the Bar in New York, not D.C., and so we chased him back and forth between the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility and New York, and did the same with Ruemmler in D.C.)
OK–you will feel worse. We got nowhere.
There has to be a tipping point, somewhere, sometime, @formerlawprof. Maybe with Barr and Durham working on this disaster, there will finally be justice. I refuse to give up hope. Very cool that you worked with Sidney Powell!
You know who I’d like to see become AG after Barr (locks up all the malefactors and )retires??? That there Texas woman, Sidney Powell. Get some justice back at the DoJ!
Yahoo!! I’m with you!
You will note from her interview she would not suffer all those fools lightly, and clearly said there should be a whole bunch of people fired in both Justice and the FBI. Could be lining up the perfect 1-2 punch we all have been hoping for — Barr to get the clean-up started, Sidney to finish it up! Hope springs eternal!
Can we pair her with Gen. Flynn given the power to root out the rot in the intelligence agencies? I think he knows where a lot of the bodies are buried and he certainly should be motivated.
What they did to General Flynn, who served his country for so many years, is one of the greatest injustices our system of “justice”, and it pains me to have to put it that way, ever inflicted on anyone. And Weissmann was almost certainly the evil, and I use that word advisedly as it is not one to just throw around, engineer of that horrible nightmare, along with the execrable Sally Yates.
@susanquinn, @formerlawprof, and other friends interested in this disgraceful chapter in our otherwise proud history, an article out this morning on Real Clear Politics entitled “Scorched Earth: Mueller’s targets speak out”, gives just a little of the flavor of how this team of [ C of C]s wreaked immeasurable havoc on the lives and families and homes of their “targets” and, of course, the despicable Weissmann figures in these abuses quite prominently, along with Jeannie Rhee. I know I repeat myself, but how these people still have a license to practice law (Licensed to Lie!) is beyond any comprehension.
I’ve only gotten as far as Jerome Corsi’s account and I’m both appalled and encouraged. Appalled at the abuse of power by the Mueller team (among others) and encouraged that someone at RCP seems honest enough to report it straight.
I admire and share your passion about this topic, and every time you find more information, I think it makes our case stronger. You’re not repeating yourself–you’re keeping us informed!
Paul Sperry is definitely one of the best! We need at least 100 of him to get to the bottom of this mountain of abuse.
Thank you; much appreciated. As a “recovering lawyer” as I and a number of my over the hill colleagues refer to ourselves, and having more of my share of dealing with lawyers exactly like Weissmann, it sickens me to see the destruction they leave in their wake.
I just finished that article and as much as I have been following this, I had never heard of some of the lower level people caught up in this. One was a “Never Trumper” whose ‘crime’ appears to be having co-written a book with Gen. Flynn. I had also not read much about Rhee’s involvement.
These people (the Mueller team, not the targets) should be prosecuted fully. I think Manafort had some real issues in his past that can’t be ignored, but the rest are all caught up in traps by the Mueller team and should be pardoned and reimbursed for their expenses.
@susanquinn and @formerlawprof, and other interested colleagues, finally we may see some actual Justice for this victim of Weissmann and his gang of thugs–according to this article this afternoon –“Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Andrew Weissmann Meets His Match — General Flynn Hires Top Attorney and Weissmann Critic Sidney Powell”– he now is represented by someone who, if anyone can, overcome the corruption and general sleaziness of the Weissmann gang!
This makes me smile– bigly!
Sincerely, Jim
See also this article which is worth checking out if only for the early comments!
Given what we’ve all learned about Sidney Powell, this is outstanding news, @jimgeorge. Thank you for updating us!
I have read Popodopoulis’ book “Deep State Target” It is very good and my wife was practically attacking the car radio as we listened to the audio book driving back from California Monday. I sent a copy to my FBI daughter. I don’t know if she will read it. She has been an agent 25 years and is defensive about the FBI.
I think Flynn was an original target as McCabe and Obama both had a grudge.
http://abriefhistory.org/?p=7011
It was all about General Flynn. I think it began on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, when Flynn changed the way we did intelligence against the likes of Zarqawi, bin Laden, the Taliban, and their allies.
General Flynn saw that our battlefield intelligence was too slow. We collected information from the Middle East and sent it back to Washington, where men with stars on their shoulders and others at the civilian intel agencies chewed it over, decided what to do, and sent instructions back to the war zone. By the time all that happened, the battlefield had changed. Flynn short-circuited this cumbersome bureaucratic procedure and moved the whole enterprise to the war itself.
The two vendettas merged in 2016.
I guess I’d want her to know that most of us who are criticizing the FBI are attacking the upper echelon, not the rank-and-file. Unless she’s in the upper echelon . . .
I suspect it’s the other way around , Weissman/Comey chose Mueller , Mr. ‘Integrity’ as the figurehead , leaving Weissman free to do his evil work unimpeded.