Category Andrew Weissmann

Aug 28 2024

The Lawfare Group Draw up a Modified 4 Count Indictment Hoping to Regenerate Legal Battles Against President Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on August 27, 2024 | Sundance

It’s really not Jack Smith, so we should drop the pretenses.  Mary McCord, Norm Eisen and Andrew Weissmann have recrafted a new DC indictment against President Trump by dropping around 10 pages of fraudulent evidence from the prior indictment and labeling it a “superseding indictment.”

The 36-page indictment is available HERE.  Essentially, after the supreme court decision on immunity, the majority of the previous case against President Trump was likely to fail, so Mary, Norm and Andrew went back and modified the previously lawfare to fit a narrower scale as requested by the supreme court.

The Lawfare crew then hand off the indictment to Jack Smith who runs it through a Grand Jury, and re-files it as a new set of issues; however, the majority of the case is structurally the same, they just took out the evidence they were using.  This fiasco does not appear to be any better than the previous pages of Lawfare.

(Via Politico) – […] The new indictment removes some specific allegations against Trump but contains the same four criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States. It’s a signal that Smith believes the high court’s immunity decision doesn’t pose a major impediment to convicting the former president.

“The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions,” Smith’s team wrote in an accompanying court filing.

The development is unlikely to alter the reality that a trial in the case before the November election looks impossible. In fact, the new indictment could drag the case out further — defense attorneys often seek delays after prosecutors revise criminal allegations.

Both sides face a Friday deadline to propose next steps to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the Biden appointee who is overseeing the proceedings in the trial court. Chutkan has scheduled a Sept. 5 hearing to set a course for the case. (read more)

Apr 4 2024

Jack Smith, Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen Are Big Mad at Judge Aileen Cannon Overseeing the Trump Documents Case


Posted originally on the CTH on April 3, 2024 | Sundance

Before getting into the weeds, here’s the big picture baseline.  All

documents and records created within the executive branch are created
for the benefit of the head of the Executive Branch, the president.

There is no entity, organization, assembly, institution, person or
individual, above the President of the United States. The president
holds absolute power and absolute immunity. Everyone within the
executive branch works at the pleasure of the president, and all work
products are created for his administration. This is the plenary power
of the president.

The
entire documents case in Florida rests on the principle that another
entity supersedes the president within the executive branch.  Some
unknown, unnamed bureaucracy can override the president and decide for
themselves what would be called a “presidential record” and what would
be called “classified information.”

Jack Smith, Norm Eisen (pictured left, red tie) and Andrew Weissmann
each argue that some other entity rests atop the president and can make
this decision.

Judge Aileen Cannon has not determined which constitutional argument
is correct, and has told the parties to create jury instructions both
ways. The Lawfare crew of Smith, Eisen and Weissmann are going bananas.

[…] Cannon’s
first scenario would allow the jury to make a factual determination
about whether a former president deemed a record to be personal or
official under the PRA. That is nonsensical – presidents are not allowed
to designate official records as personal ones, so there is no factual
issue for a jury to resolve.

A different set of laws govern the
classification process and the rules for handling highly sensitive
classified documents — not the PRA. They include Executive Order 13526. One of the authors of this column (Eisen) helped write that executive order. The 11th Circuit has already established that those rules fully apply to former presidents.

Cannon seems to think that the PRA
somehow supersedes the executive order and the rest of federal law
pertaining to the handling of classified materials. It does not. On the
contrary, the PRA defines “personal records” as “all documentary
materials … of a purely private or nonpublic character which do not
relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional,
statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.”
That cannot possibly include highly classified battle plans, nuclear
secrets and the other official documents at issue in this criminal
prosecution.

That rules out Cannon’s first
hypothetical. But as Smith points out in his filing, the second
alternative is just as bad. She made up a legal standard, asking both
sides to assume that Trump could have deemed a record personal by simply
not including it with the records transmitted to the National Archives
and Records Administration at the end of his term. If this were true,
the mere fact that Trump took the documents with him from the White
House would inherently turn them into personal records.

Of course, Trump leaped at this
interpretation, fashioning proposed jury instructions that would
inevitably result in his acquittal. But, as Smith noted, this approach
has no basis in the law — or the facts. Even Trump himself does not seem
to have considered classified documents personal after he left the
White House, as evidenced in an audio recording CNN obtained last year
in which Trump, during a conversation at his Bedminster, New Jersey,
estate in 2021, discussed documents remaining classified even though he
took them with him upon leaving office. Smith hits this point hard,
arguing that Trump’s position that records are personal was “invented”
when the controversy over the documents began to emerge in February
2022, over a year after Trump left the White House. (read more)




Feb 28 2024

FOIA Release Highlights Durham Never Intended Accountability for Deep State Actors


Posted originally on the CTH on February 27, 2024 | Sundance

Major HatTip to FoiaFan for staying on top of this. 

In August of 2020 I sent this tweet to the general public after a lengthy discussion with John Durham’s lead investigator:

This tweet created major controversy amid those who were deep in the research weeds on the entire Spygate/Russiagate fiasco. Few would believe that in the effort to preserve the institutions at all costs, AG Bill Barr was the Bondo application and Special Prosecutor John Durham was the spray paint.   It was all a coverup operation to hide the rot in the DOJ and beyond.

Essentially, Durham and Bill Aldenberg admitted to me that nothing the Robert Mueller team did in the preceding two years was subject to their review.

Yes, that is correct, Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann were specifically appointed in May 2017 by Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to help coverup and hide the IC targeting of Donald Trump in the preceding two years.   Emphasize this point, the intelligence community was targeting candidate Donald Trump, because they had the power as a result of the new surveillance state.

Mueller was to hide that IC targeting operation.  Mueller had the full support of all Democrat and Republican leadership.

When Mueller was finished with his segment (2017-2019), newly installed AG Bill Barr appointed John Durham as the safety mechanism to continue the coverup operation (2019 through 2021).   This became crystal clear during my phone contacts when the special counsel admitted they would not review anything the Mueller team touched.

John Durham would not, likely because he ‘could not’, touch any of the participants in the Trump targeting operation that were inside the government.  His only accountability review was looking at those who were outside government within the Clinton Campaign, Fusion GPS, Perkins Coie, etc.

The majority of the 2015/2016 operation against Trump was conducted by inside government actors who were assisting the Clinton campaign effort.  With John Durham admitting he would not look at those govt participants, essentially the Durham investigation was a farce, a joke, a total snow job.  Hence… my tweet.

Today, FOIAFan is noting the budget request from the office of John Durham provides receipts for exactly what I was saying HERE – {Go Deep}.   The budget memo was recently released as part of a demanded FOIA request:

[SOURCE]

Notice how John Durham is saying as soon as he gets the Danchenko issue completed, it’s all over; “the office shutdown will be completed.”

October 2022 – A jury found Igor Danchenko not guilty on four counts of lying to the FBI, on four occasions.  (1) Danchenko told FBI agents he received a phone call in late July 2016 Sergei Millian. However, Danchenko knew he had never received a call from Millian. (2) Danchenko gave a false statement to FBI agents that he “was under the impression” that the late July 2016 call was from Millian. (3) Danchenko falsely stated to FBI agents that he believed he spoke to Millian on the phone on more than one occasion. And (4) Danchenko lied that he “believed he has spoken to [Millian] on the telephone,” when Danchenko well knew he had never spoken to Millian.

The FBI didn’t care about the details of the lies that were told to them; the lies served a purpose.  The FBI purpose was to use the Steele Dossier as the foundation for a fraudulent all-encompassing search warrant against the Trump campaign and presidency, using Carter Page.  That construct was always the motive of the DOJ/FBI use of Danchenko, Chris Steele and the infamous dossier that gave the DOJ the patina they needed for the FISA application.

The trial itself showed how corrupt the FBI and DOJ were in this scheme by: A) offering Chris Steele $1 million for proof of the dossier content.  B) By making Danchenko a confidential human source for two years to shield him, “sources and methods”, from investigative inquiry. C) By paying Danchenko $200,000 for his time as a useful tool and confidential human source.

This is where we must stop pretending.  The Durham premise of a “duped FBI” is laughable on its face. No one in the FBI or DOJ-NSD was “duped” by false information from Igor Danchenko.

The lies, as they were with Clinton lawyer Michael Sussman, were well known to be false, yet materially beneficial to the unspoken intention of the DOJ/FBI, which was to target Donald Trump.   The corrupt intent of the DOJ and FBI is the basic rot John Durham was appointed to cover over.

Follow the timeline:

Danchenko interviewed by FBI in January 2017. Tells FBI dossier is junk.

FBI hires Danchenko in March 2017 paying him $200,000, just before renewing the FISA they now know is based on junk.

May 2017 Robert Mueller appointed to cover up all of the DOJ/FBI corruption that existed in the Trump targeting.

June 2017 Mueller interviews Danchenko, then renews the FISA.

February 2019, Bill Barr enters as Attorney General.

April 2019 Robert Mueller completes investigation.

May 2019, Bill Barr appoints Durham just to look into things.  Immediately, he then begs Trump not to declassify any documents.  Trump writes executive order giving Bill Barr ability to review and declassify documents.

October 2020, Bill Barr officially (and quietly), makes John Durham a special counsel.  We don’t find out until December (after the Nov election).  Which is why in…. October 2020, FBI drops Igor Danchenko as paid informant.

Put it all together and you see the continuum.

(1) Donald Trump was being targeted by a corrupt DOJ and FBI.  (2) Robert Mueller was installed in May 2017 to cover up the targeting.  (3) When Mueller is nearing his completion, Bill Barr steps in to mitigate institutional damage from 1 and 2. (4) Barr maintains damage control and installs Durham. (5) Durham takes over the coverup operation from October 2020 (Danchenko safe to exit with Durham appointment official).

Main Justice kept a bag over Danchenko until they needed a scapegoat, created by Durham, to sell a narrative that Main Justice was duped. John Durham charged Danchenko (working outside govt) with lying to the FBI while simultaneously avoiding drawing attention to the FBI/DOJ officials (inside govt) who knew Danchenko was lying and were willfully blind to it in order to continue attacking and investigating President Donald Trump.

James Comey, Robert Mueller, Bill Barr, John Durham, the Mar-a-Lago raid, the appointment of Jack Smith…  it’s all one long continuum of the same targeting and coverup operation.

Bill Barr was the Bondo application and John Durham was the spray paint.

The entire system is corrupt.

  Trump is correct….

Aug 2 2023

Special Counsel Jack Smith Unseals Criminal Indictment of President Trump for Protesting Results of 2020 Election


posted originally on the CTH on August 1, 2023 | Sundance | 321 Comments

Special Counsel Jack Smith held a press conference today following the unsealing of a federal criminal indictment alleging four counts against President Donald J Trump. [Full Indictment pdf Link]

The four alleged criminal counts are: (1) Conspiracy to defraud the U.S Government; (2) Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; (3) Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and (4) Conspiracy against Rights.

Interestingly, nowhere in the indictment is anything criminally alleged relating to the January 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC.  However, you will notice in the Lawfare delivery of the remarks, Special Counsel Jack Smith factually speaks almost exclusively of the January 6th events.

The absence of a criminal charge (ie. seditious conspiracy or insurrection) when contrast against the extreme verbal emphasis of the event as outlined by Smith in the presser, will be missed by most.  Speaking of the non-criminal event as the context for a fabricated/stretched criminal allegation, is Lawfare in action.  Why emphasize but not charge?  Because the DOJ/FBI does not want the risk of litigated discovery and evidence of coordinated government activity therein, that’s why.

Jack Smith knows he is out on a limb with his Lawfare effort to criminalize the legal and constitutional challenge to an election outcome. He is nervous, WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nfUJ0abf9tY%3Ffeature%3Doembed

.

The brighter the sunlight falling upon government corruption and weaponization, the more those who perpetrate corruption and weaponization will have to shield against it.

At this point in history these attacks against President Donald Trump are Lawfare members sticking fingers and toes into the cracks of a justice dam that is increasingly unstable and about to collapse.  The pressure on the other side is the dam is the collective anger of We The People, and when that dam breaks no pre-positioned scuba gear is going to protect them.

Continue living your very best life.  Do not let yourself or your family fall victim to the fear of dark imaginings.  However, look beyond our current proximity and keep your eyes open for any/all constructs that can be repurposed to protect government interests through physical lock downs.

Jul 28 2023

The Man Who Will Destroy America


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re- Posted Jul 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Trump Superseding Indictment

This is the man who will tear the United States apart at the seams – Special Counsel Jack Smith who has filed a superseding indictment against Donald J. Trump (see above). This is not a big deal. It is simply more charges on the same theories to interfere with the 2024 election. Smith is actually violating the civil rights of everyone in the country by trying to prevent Trump from running for office.

No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to …

Even this aside, the real purpose of this superseding indictment is not more charges. That is just to make the headlines and hide the real purpose.  He has indicted a new defendant: Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. They cannot win a case without a co-defendant. They need someone to take the stand and perjure themselves as the prosecutor, then will rehearse them on what to say in return for no time. This is how they win CONSPIRACY cases. They desperately need a co-defendant. They threaten them with 20 years to life unless they testify for the government. They need that to prove “intent,” for otherwise, they can just infer from something. The co-defendant will get on the stand and say Trump told him x, y, z, and the jury would have to find him guilty.

For virtually every crime in this country, you are charged with CONSPIRACY, and then they threaten someone to testify against you. This is the law of tyrants. They always go for the conspiracy charge if they cannot prove a direct crime.

By doing this to Trump while ignoring everything done by Biden and his son, it is a slap in the face to all Americans, proving that there is no rule of law. It is as Thrasymacus warned Socrates who they sentenced to death – there is no justice – it is always the self-interest of those in power. Nothing has ever changed in 6,000 years.