To many Democrats, the “rule of law” is as subjective as their whims and so proper application, seemingly untainted by political bias or animus, is enough to trigger an apoplectic meltdown. Such was the case for known tantrum-thrower attorney Andrew Weissmann when he learned former President Donald Trump had scored a legal victory against the Department of Justice.
Nearly a month after the unprecedented raid of Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago, legal challenges to the underhanded behavior from the arguably weaponized FBI have continued to go the way of the president.
On Monday, as reported, that included Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granting his request for a special master and “temporarily stopping federal prosecutors from using those documents in their investigation into obstruction and mishandling of government secrets.”
For Weissmann, known best for his work on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, the admittedly appealable decision wasn’t just wrong by his assessment, but it made the Justice Department a victim.
“Breaking: [District Court] lawless decision put DOJ in the untenable position of appealing a plainly wrong decision and enduring the unknown delay that entails,” he argued, “OR just trying to speed through the [special master] process.”
Breaking: DCt lawless decision put DOJ in the untenable position of appealing a plainly wrong decision and enduring the unknown delay that entails OR just trying to speed though the Spec Master process. https://t.co/ygPKnxB7hO
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
His tirade had barely just begun when he put forward, “Nothing about the MAL search warrant process was special and her reasoning [would] lead to appointment of a special master in EVERY criminal case. The only thing special is a former president stealing highly classified docs.”
Nothing about the MAL search warrant process was special and her reasoning wd lead to appointment of a special master in EVERY criminal case. The only thing special is a former president stealing highly classified docs.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
Weissmann’s guilty until proven innocent review of the decision continued with a dismissal of the Fourth Amendment challenges that Trump had presented alongside allegations of a crime he has not been convicted of.
“Cannon uses existence of a small number of personal items found in search (and properly seized pursuant to warrant) to find standing to review ALL docs including vast majority that are STOLEN,” he wrote.
Cannon uses existence of a small number of personal items found in search (and properly seized pursuant to warrant) to find standing to review ALL docs including vast majority that are STOLEN.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
Yet, as BizPacReview reported, Cannon’s order stated that “According to the Privilege Review Team’s Report, the seized materials include medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information.”
As part of the fishing expedition, the FBI had taken more than 1,000 non-classified documents (including 40 years’ worth of medical records), printed news articles, clothing and gift items.
The judge stated, “In addition to being deprived of potentially significant personal documents, which alone creates a real harm, Plaintiff faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public.”
This, according to Weissmann, was Cannon displaying “another illustration of the insidiousness of Trump and the Big Lie.”
I truly hoped Judge Cannon would adhere to the rule of law, but she in fact is now another illustration of the insidiousness of Trump and the Big Lie. And how he has infected formerly main stream Republicans.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
He then went on to propose the unethical solution that Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who had approved the search warrant and who had previously recused himself from a Trump lawsuit, be appointed as the special master as though there were would be no potential bias in that scenario.
If Judge Cannon was truly concerned about the appearance of correct judicial processes, as she claims, she wd have Magistrate Judge Reinhart do whatever she wanted the Special Master to do. She won’t bc that is not in fact her mission.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
Of course, such a proposal from the attorney is well within his wheelhouse having previously been called out for “alleged unethical tactics” by legal scholar Jonathan Turley who critiqued a false prosecution by Weissman, writing in 2017, “Likewise, Weissmann secured convictions against four executives with Merrill Lynch by stretching the criminal code beyond recognition The Fifth Circuit reversed them. He also resigned from the Enron task force in the midst of complaints over his tactics.”
Hours after he began, the triggered attorney posted, “I am going to stop tweet-venting for a while, and instead try self-medicating with pinot to deal with my extreme frustration at seeing the rule of law flouted by a person who took an oath to show no favor to any person.”
I am going to stop tweet-venting for a while, and instead try self- medicating with pinot to deal with my extreme frustration at seeing the rule of law flouted by a person who took an oath to show no favor to any person.
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 6, 2022
However, less than a half hour later Weissmann was at it again and continued after that.
This Katyal string ⬇️ is a good summary of just SOME of the “Cannon fodder.” https://t.co/wuYjuR5OVz
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 6, 2022
“Donald Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he is being persecuted, when he is being privileged.”Sam Buell, Duke Law
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 6, 2022
Let us not forget that the Cannon decision is a direct result of a President and party that have appointed partisans to the bench who don’t take their oaths seriously to administer the law equally and fairly.
Not true of all appointees, but should not be true of any.— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads/Insta)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 6, 2022
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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