Category Andrew Weissmann A Clear and Present Danger

Jun 10 2023

Strategic Lawfare at Work, They Didn’t Resign – Jack Smith Takes Down Two Trump Lawyers Using Compelled Testimony, Creating Witnesses Within Indictment


Posted originally on the CTH on June 9, 2023 | Sundance 

Good news, bad news and granular news..

First, the good news. The judge assigned to the Trump documents case is U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon.  She is the same judge who handled the lawsuit last year after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.   Judge Cannon was the judge who appointed the “special master” to review the documents the DOJ was claiming were classified, but Team Trump was contending that definition.

Now the bad news. The DOJ is no longer legally arguing that Donald Trump held any classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.  The DOJ is arguing that President Trump held documents vital to U.S. defense security.  It’s a farce but that’s their position.  The classification status of documents is moot, nonexistent, except to create the predicate for the proverbial FBI nose under the tent.

The DOJ-NSD (that’s Lisa Monaco) got a warrant to look for classified documents, but never intended to use classified documents as a case cornerstone because President Trump had full declassification authority.  The DOJ got a search warrant by convincing a judge they were looking for something that wasn’t even a violation of law. That’s why the DOJ would not reveal the probable cause affidavit.  The search was built upon a fraudulent pretense.  “Classified” is a snipe hunt.

You will notice Jack Smith never discussed “classified documents” in his remarks, and the issue of classified documents appears nowhere except in the indictment as a purposeful lawfare description of documents.  The DOJ is not legally charging anything relating to the classification status of the documents.  That’s the Lawfare and media banter to create a talking point.  The term “classified” is all over the indictment, but as a lawfare adjective only; it’s like using the word “stash”.

The special counsel legal framework is centered around documents the DOJ define as vital to “the defense security” of the United States.  EVERYTHING is predicated on 31 counts of an 18 U.S. Code § 793(e) violation.  The DOJ defines what is considered a defense document, and that intentionally has nothing to do with classification.

The granular news.  You might have heard that two of Trump’s lawyers, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, quit today.  The media wants to use their exit as a point to indicate Trump is in legal jeopardy; however, that’s not the case.

As soon as Trusty and Rowley saw their forced testimony was used in the indictment, they had no option except to exit the case.  Despite the lawyers providing no damaging information against Trump, the DOJ used language in the indictment to turn Trump’s lawyers into material witnesses. Weissmann’s Lawfare tactic create a conflict, forcing the two Trump lawyers to depart.

WASHINGTON DC – Two of Donald Trump’s top lawyers abruptly resigned from his defense team on Friday, just hours after news broke that he and a close aide were indicted on charges related to their handling of classified documents.

Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who helmed Trump’s Washington, D.C.-based legal team for months and were seen frequently at the federal courthouse, indicated they would no longer represent Trump in matters being investigated and prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing both the documents matter and efforts by Trump to subvert the 2020 election.

The resignations were shortly followed by an announcement from Trump himself confirming that a close aide, Walt Nauta, had also been indicted by federal prosecutors. Nauta, a Navy veteran, had served as the former president’s personal aide and was a ubiquitous presence during his post White House days.

In their place, Trump indicated that Todd Blanche — an attorney he recently retained to help fight unrelated felony charges brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg in April — would lead his legal team, along with a firm to be named later. Trump and his team have liked Blanche, who is expected to play a more elevated, central role. (more)

Weissmann, Eisen and Smith are using lawfare in the indictment to put the interests of Trump and his aide Walt Nauta against each other.   Obviously, Nauta would not turn on Trump, so the prosecution made Nauta a target for a federal 1001 charge of lying to investigators and will pressure him throughout the case to take a plea in exchange for testimony against Trump.   Nauta is the baseline of the “Conspiracy Elements” which require two or more people.  Again, pure Lawfare.

Obviously, Jim Trusty was unaware last night that his forced testimony would be used in the indictment. WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=VGPmbWq0g48%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Jun 10 2023

Listen Carefully, Special Counsel Jack Smith Delivers Statement Following Trump Indictment – Indictment Link Included


Posted originally on the CTH on June 9, 2023 | Sundance 

I would strongly urge people, especially those who walk the deep weeds, to READ THE INDICTMENT carefully, before watching the remarks by special counsel Jack Smith as delivered today.  What you will notice is that 31 of the 37 counts alleged in the indictment are individual counts, one per document, specific to Statute 793(e) which pertains to defense department information.

There were, as claimed in the justice department prior court arguments, and again affirmed today in the indictment itself, 100 classified documents located by the FBI and DOJ after the Trump certification of compliance.  Of those 100 documents, 31 of them were specifically selected to represent the baseline for the 793(e) charge. Listen to Smith emphasize Defense and Defense Intelligence, and soon you will see why.  WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=m_U_imm2lBY%3Ffeature%3Doembed

~ READ INDICTMENT HERE ~

Jack Smith is relying on 18 U.S. Code 793, a law created in 1948 intended to stop contractors to the Defense Dept from stealing, selling, or copying U.S. defense system secrets, or patents on defense products. [READ THE LAW] The premise of 31-counts [each an individual document] pertain to “National Defense Security.”  The subsequent six counts are predicated around the claimed 793(e) violations.

The DOJ is not, repeat NOT, arguing a classified documents case.  The entire legal framework is centered around documents they define as vital to the defense security of the United States.  EVERYTHING is predicated on this 18 U.S. Code § 793(e) violation:

18 U.S. Code § 793 (e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it. 

Despite the verbose language in the indictment, a key element of Lawfare, the case is weak. The prosecutors know it. I will explain.

NOTE:  Sixty nine documents in a Deep State rabbit hole!  ~Sundance

Jun 10 2023

Mark Levin Reacts to Trump Indictment – Frivolous Documents Charges


Posted originally on the CTH on June 9, 2023 | Sundance 

I am deep in the weeds and assembling notes for outlines to be delivered in the next several articles.  However, that said, perhaps the only time Mark Levin’s shouting was tolerable was last night as he responded to the indictment of President Trump.  WATCH:

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NOTE:  Sixty nine documents in a Deep State rabbit hole!  ~Sundance

Jun 9 2023

Who is Really Conducting the Jack Smith Prosecution of Trump? Lawfare’s Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen?


Posted originally on the CTH on June 8, 2023 | Sundance 

On June 2nd former Mueller special counsel and impeachment operative, Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen respectively, published their current Trump prosecution memo [Read Here] using a novel and arcane interpretation of US Code 793. Four days later media began reporting from leaks within the Jack Smith special counsel of the main legal approach they were going to use against President Trump [citation].  What approach is Jack Smith taking, US Code 793!   This is not coincidental. 

[Weissmann to DOJ Prosecution Memo, page 36 – pdf]

Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen wrote this memo last week.  Special Counsel Jack Smith is using it now.

At the time the 186-page Weissmann & Eisen guidance was completed, CTH drew attention to it [HERE] because we track the way the Lawfare operatives work.

In addition to protecting the interests of corrupt former Obama officials, organizing, supporting and coordinating with the Lawfare network is the purpose for Deputy AG Lisa Monaco to exist in current Main Justice operations.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is a tool, vessel and willing participant in one long Lawfare continuum that originates back in the Obama administration when they weaponized the DOJ to target their political opposition.  Andrew Weissmann writing the guidelines for Jack Smith to deploy is simply a visible example of how this operation is being conducted.

Weissmann even sells Trump Prosecution swag on his podcast.  They are not trying to hide their influence and control over the Main Justice operations, they are quite open about it because they sense they have nothing to fear.

However, the intent of the Weissmann and Eisen approach is based on a need to protect the illegal Lawfare activity from sunlight.  The Lawfare continuum is based on a need to protect the weaponized use of government that took place during the Obama administration.

The Obama administration and all of the participants in the agencies involved, use their institutional power to target their political opponents.  The DOJ and FBI targeted Donald Trump in 2016 with these weaponized systems.  The ODNI and CIA also supported.   President Obama, and all the affiliates, aligned ideologues and conscripts used the U.S. government to target their political opposition.  In the aftermath of the 2016 election, all of the foot soldiers took up position to protect the administration from public discovery of what took place.

Inside DC, Democrats and many Republicans are aligned in common self-interested defense against Trump specifically because of the weaponization that took place.  The Jack Smith special counsel is just another system in a long train of government abuse.  That’s why Weissmann, Eisen and the Lawfare group are still operating – still assisting, still helping and still coordinating.

♦ Weissmann-Mueller: Everything that happened inside Main Justice from May ’17 to April ’19, activity that was grabbing every scintilla of media attention, was being done by the Mueller/Weissmann team.  Key word ‘everything.’

There was not a single action from Main Justice that was not controlled by Andrew Weissman and company.  This action includes the revelations of staff and congressional members from the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) having subpoenas for their private emails, phone records, text message and communication.

Andrew Weissmann sent over 2,800 subpoenas for records [See 156-Pages of Examples Here].  Some of those subpoenas were sent to various telecommunications and social media platforms so they could monitor what congress was doing.

In essence, and this is a very important part of the record that is being missed, Weissmann and his team, having been given the primary responsibility of covering up the corrupt DOJ and FBI activity from the 2016 election, needed to know what Devin Nunes and Kash Patel knew.  As a result, Andrew Weissmann and team, using the figurehead of Robert Mueller as a pretext and patina, put members of congress under watch.

DAG Rod Rosenstein was presumably unaware of what Weissmann and team were doing. In the world of the bureaucratic state, willful blindness has benefits and avoids a person taking a position on whether they are directly part of the corrupt activity.  As a man comfortable with the Machiavellian ways of the deep swamp, Rod Rosenstein was the perfect and useful weasel on a leash for this specific role as DOJ liaison.

Again, why does this matter?

This context matters because it is much more of an explosive revelation to realize there were two sets of investigators, each investigating each other.  Devin Nunes was investigating a corrupt DOJ and FBI.  Weissmann and team trying to cover for corruption within the DOJ and FBI.

Chairman Devin Nunes trying to find out what was going on and put the pieces of an opaque puzzle together.  Meanwhile Andrew Weissmann was in the role of blocker to the interest of Nunes, and was a stakeholder is knowing what Nunes was piecing together.

Mueller/Weissmann were on offense against President Trump, and Weissmann/Mueller were simultaneously on defense against the House Intel Committee.

Andrew Weissmann was charged with protecting the prior corrupt activity and shielding it from sunlight.  In order to accomplish this goal, he had to know what Devin Nunes and Kash Patel were doing.  Thus, amid the 2,800 subpoenas and search warrants, Weissmann was investigating the House investigators.

That’s the background for this story:  “DOJ snooped on House Intelligence Committee investigators during Russia probe, subpoenas show”

It wasn’t the generic “DOJ” doing the snooping….

… It was the Mueller team!

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Mueller vs Rosenstein

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Jun 8 2023

Jack Smith, Andrew Weissmann and Lisa Monaco’s Novel Theory – US Code 793 to Prosecute Trump, It Won’t Work


June 7, 2023 | Sundance | 173 Comments

….At a certain point Lawfare fails.

Do you remember the prosecution “Witness #8” in the case against George Zimmerman? The person described as Trayvon Martin’s “girlfriend” who was claimed by FOUR state prosecutors to be the star “ear witness” against Zimmerman.

Do you remember how we waited month after month, laughing at how the State of Florida was relying upon their one key witness, and we all knew it was totally made up?

Do you remember the buildup, the drama, the media’s breathless anticipation, and the eventual beverage that flushed out of your nose in laughter when the State called Witness #8, and brought Rachel Jeantel to the stand?

Not only did she have no clue about any detail the prosecution was saying, she didn’t fit any of the profile that was claimed to be her importance in the case.  And… not only could she not read the statement the State of Florida claimed she wrote (she didn’t), Jeantel didn’t even know Trayvon Martin.  She was completely manufactured by the prosecution because her mom was a friend of Trayvon’s mom.  Everyone wondered how the hell the prosecution could even put her on the stand. Remember that?

The reason they put her on the stand was because the prosecution and Trayvon’s family had no choice.  For over a year, they had hyped up this imaginary “ear witness” in an effort to convince Zimmerman to take a plea deal.  That was the purpose of the fabrication, and when George Zimmerman didn’t take the plea – when he forced the prosecution to put Witness #8 on the stand – the case collapsed, because the case was manufactured.

When people ask me about the DOJ and/or Jack Smith bringing an indictment against President Trump, in many ways I laugh while waiting for the DOJ to bring a proverbial Jeantel to the court.  The DOJ has to indict Trump for the same reason Angela Corey had to put Jeantel on the stand.  Their political narrative cases have to continue regardless of the evidence.  Lawfare is a construct for media consumption intended to manipulate public opinion.

Technically Lawfare doesn’t need an actual viable legal argument behind it.  Much like Zimmerman’s imaginary witness #8, Lawfare can be assembled out of loin cloth.  However, at a certain point that legal fabrication runs into the reality of a judicial system it is not designed to defeat.

If the leaks to the media are accurate, WE WERE RIGHT!

Main Justice and DOJ special counsel Jack Smith have run head-first into the problem that President Trump declassified all the documents he retained in Mar-a-Lago.

Again, if the media reports are accurate, Jack  Smith is now relying on 18 U.S. Code 793, a law created in 1948 intended to stop contractors to the Defense Dept from stealing, selling, or copying U.S. defense system secrets, or patents on defense products. [READ THE LAW]

Here is how the media are putting it:

The Independent has learned that prosecutors are ready to ask grand jurors to approve an indictment against Mr Trump for violating a portion of the US criminal code known as Section 793, which prohibits “gathering, transmitting or losing” any “information respecting the national defence”.

The use of Section 793, which does not make reference to classified information, is understood to be a strategic decision by prosecutors that has been made to short-circuit Mr Trump’s ability to claim that he used his authority as president to declassify documents he removed from the White House and kept at his Palm Beach, Florida property long after his term expired on 20 January 2021.

That section of US criminal law is written in a way that could encompass Mr Trump’s conduct even if he was authorised to possess the information as president because it states that anyone who “lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document …relating to the national defence,” and “willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it” can be punished by as many as 10 years in prison. (LINK)

Main Justice is now stretching Code 793 to claim any document the government designates as a “national security document” is a national defense document.

I am almost certain this is because the 11th circuit court of appeals ruled the DOJ can label whatever it wants, in any form it wants.  As long as the DOJ claims it is a national security interest, it becomes a national security interest.  This ruling came from the arguments over the Mar-a-Lago documents. REMEMBER:

[SOURCE]

If the DOJ says a box of Cheerios is a national security threat, the Judicial Branch accepts that all Cheerio boxes are proffered national-security concerns.   It doesn’t matter what the Trump documents are, as long as the DOJ can claim they are vital national security interests.

In the previous ruling of the Mar-a-Lago documents, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals did what the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) does with the DOJ-NSD and any matters defined by the originating Main Justice officials as “national security.”   The 11th Circuit deferred all definitions to the DOJ.

The DOJ is granted legal benefit of the doubt on all matters of national security, which puts the DOJ-NSD in ultimate control over the star chamber they operate.

[NOTE: In the post 9-11 surveillance state, this approach by the DOJ-NSD is a pillar holding the Fourth Branch of Government in place, as we have outlined.  The other pillars are (2) the Dept of Homeland Security, (3) the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and (4) the secret FISA Court system.  All four pillars maintain an omnipotent fourth branch of government that operates entirely without oversight.  As you can see in the 11th Circuit Court ruling, there is no check or balance in the post 9-11 national security state.]

However, their target isn’t an ordinary citizen or target.  The target of these “definitions”, and make no mistake – ultimately this is what the case comes down to, definitions – is the former President of the United States who had unilateral authority to define anything he wanted.

The case against President Donald Trump might look bad on paper, because that is what the case against Donald Trump was designed to do.  However, ultimately this case is on a trajectory to go up to a much higher court in discovery and pre-trial argument, because eventually these definitions are going to become an issue for the prosecution.

♦ THE TELL – Here’s the “tell” that every pundit, analyst and litigation expert will pretend they don’t notice.  It’s the funniest part of the entire thing and yet no one, again except us, is noticing it.  The DOJ has already predicated the baseline of their claim by saying they cannot tell anyone, even the court, what the nature of the documents are that underpin their assertion.  Remember, they wouldn’t even let a court appointed “special master” review the documents.

Stop and think about that for a moment.  NO ONE knows what the documents are, and the DOJ has stated they will never say what the documents are.  The DOJ is filing a case about the mishandling of documents, in whatever legal construct they put forth, while simultaneously saying they are under no obligation to tell anyone what the documents are.

DOJ: Trump violated USC 793 in his discussion and/or handling of documents.

Trump Lawyers: What documents?

DOJ: We can’t say, and we won’t tell you.

😂
🤣
😂

The case against George Zimmerman looked bad when everyone thought Witness #8 was real.  Hell, almost the entire country believed it.

This case against President Donald Trump is of a very similar Lawfare intention in construct.

Jun 7 2023

Andrew Weissmann Celebrates Pending Federal Indictment of Trump After Writing Main Justice Memorandum for Lisa Monaco to Use


Posted originally on the CTH on June 6, 2023 | Sundance 

Andrew Weissmann, Norm Eisen and fellow travelers, wrote an internal prosecution memo for current Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to use on behalf of their conscripted Special Counsel, Jack Smith. [SEE 186-page Guidance MEMO HERE]

Essentially, what we are witnessing is what skilled researchers would expect to see.

The Lawfare operatives, represented by Weissmann, Eisen and company, are all ideological agents connected directly to the anti-Trump efforts.

I use the term “Lawfare” to describe their general group association, as well as the actual organization funded by the Brookings Institute that carries the same name.

Essentially, Lawfare et al, are the group of current and former Dept of Justice ideologues that we find throughout the deployment of all Main Justice weaponization, activism and corruption.

The Muller team were all Lawfare members. The legal team in/around the accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, what Christine Blasey-Ford called “beach friends,” are all Lawfare members.  The legal team behind both of Trump’s impeachment efforts were all Lawfare members.  It is one large network of legally minded ideologues working toward a common goal; they are inside government and connected to the same DOJ minds outside government.

The second thing they have in common is their collective risk within their action.  Many of their activities were/are unlawful (spygate, FISA, Mueller probe, impeachment background etc), so to the extent the Lawfare group can mitigate risk by attacking anyone who would be a threat to them, this is what we see.

Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen are two of the most well-known members of this politically motivated group.  Together they have created novel legal theories to use by the DOJ against their political opposition.  They write the legal filings for Main Justice to use inside government. The fact the DOJ uses these novel theories and legal filings in the actual practice of law and prosecution shows how deeply connected the outside Lawfare group is to the Lawfare group inside DC.

Much of their Lawfare approach, that is using the law as a weapon, is based on a goal of attrition. Wear down the target until they are eventually destroyed.  The same approach and motive is intended toward the supporters of the target.  Wear down the psyche of the target’s supporters until they too are destroyed.

Creating demoralization is a very familiar approach from the Saul Alinsky methods rulebook.  It is another way to create fear through isolation, ridicule and marginalization of their opponent.  Threatening to make any defender a target is exactly the key behind Andrew Weissmann’s entire tenure as a prosecutor.  You will note, they did this Lt Gen Mike Flynn when Weissmann expanded their scope and then threatened Flynn’s son, Mike Flynn Jr.

A few days ago, Andrew Weissmann and Norm Eisen published their “Model Prosecution Memo” for use inside the DOJ and for the legal scribes in media to review prior to the DOJ making any Trump indictment announcement.  {SEE MEMO HERE}  This is the same playbook they have used successfully in the past to get all of their allies on the same page for the preferred narrative.

Anticipating that Lisa Monaco is distributing the talking points and giving Jack Smith the groundwork for his upcoming novel indictment effort, Andrew Weissmann then appears on MSNBC to discuss.

Again, remember, this is as much about their own defense and self-interest as it is an attack against their enemy.  The Lawfare operatives have broken countless federal laws during their time weaponizing government against their political opposition.   Their foot soldiers, essentially allies in the FBI organization, have broken even more statutes and laws.  They are all mitigating the same level of risk.