Andrew Weissmann in 2003.
Photo:
jeff mitchell / Reuters
President Trump’s influx of pardons and leniency grants this week is being denounced everywhere and many of them seem undeserved or worse. But critics would have more credibility if they tried to understand why tens of millions of Americans would discount them as Andrew Weissmann pardons.
Weissmann is the former deputy special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russian collusion probe. He is a Democratic supporter who can be seen so far on MSNBC and suggests that Trump obstructed justice in the investigation that never showed evidence of collusion. He and his fellow taxpayers spent two years, with all the resources of the federal government, trying to prove a case that did not exist.
Instead, they accused individuals in Trump’s orbit of crimes that were unrelated to their primary purpose. They prosecuted Paul Manafort for a foreign pressure statute that is rarely enforced and then presented evidence of tax fraud. They forced George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan to face reasons in a single charge of making false statements. Roger Stone was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation.
Sir, Manafort’s tax crimes are serious crimes, and that’s how a jury has seen them. He and Mr. Stone, former business partners, have long been political scoundrels of the kind he likes to have around him. But there is no doubt that they were targeted not because of their specific crimes, but because they were associated with Mr. Trump. Prosecutors went out to look for Mr. Trump — many of them still are — and were happy to take down other people in hopes of having evidence against the president.
Still, the target men had nothing to offer beyond what prosecutors from other sources appeared. It was inevitable that Mr. Trump would pardon these former associates before he left office. If the good and the righteous want to avoid political pardons, they should be more critical of political processes.
These points do not apply to the pardons of former Republican Congress delegates Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins. Both men admitted that they violated public confidence and, at most, deserved to commute the sentences and not expel the convictions.
The pardons of four Blackwater security guards convicted of killing civilians in Iraq are also hard to justify. It reminds us of Trump’s previous intervention to save the Trident pin for Navy Seal team leader Eddie Gallagher, whose comrades refused to defend his behavior. These decisions show disrespect for American soldiers who must be disciplined with great tension on the battlefield.
The pardons that most seem to be exercised by the Washington political class, however, are those related to the Mueller-Weissmann probe. And in those they could contemplate their own complicity. Russia’s collusion saga has damaged American confidence in government institutions far more than its promoters acknowledge. His refusal to admit his harm and his own role fuels the cynicism that Trump is too happy to exploit.
Potomac Watch: With the release of Rod Rosenstein’s “scope” note and the withdrawal of the Justice Department from his case against Michael Flynn, the spotlight is on Robert Mueller. Image: Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
It appeared in the December 26, 2020 print edition.