Jan 6th Hearings And Merrick Garland : Consider This from NPR : NPR
This week the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its first set of public hearings. The final hearing focused on former President Trump's actions - or lack of action - as rioters breached the Capitol.As the hearings continue, the Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation. And Attorney General Merrick Garland is under pressure from the left to bring criminal charges against Trump.We spoke to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann about the evidence that the House Select Committee has presented and what the attorney general may be considering. Weissmann was a senior prosecutor on Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
npr.orgNew round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other allies
FILE - In this Thursday, June 27, 2019 file photo, Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York. President Trump's former campaign manager is to be arraigned on state mortgage fraud charges. Manafort, who led Trump's campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of Muellerโs investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller's mandate โ whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election โ he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
How a probe of Trump-Russia ties turned into a GOP rally cry
Yet in the 2020 campaign, Democrats are largely ignoring the Russia probe. While some of the revelations from the steady drip of newly declassified documents are serious, they do not undercut the reasons the Russia probe was launched or its principal findings. Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has appointed a prosecutor to investigate the origins of the Russia probe. Meanwhile, attacking the Russia probe is a core part of Trump's campaign. Those attacks on the Russia probe may not win over many undecided voters.
Mueller pushes back on criticism from lawyer on Russia team
WASHINGTON โ Former special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back Tuesday against criticism from one of the top prosecutors on the Russia investigation team that the team was not as aggressive as it should have been in probing connections between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Mueller did not specifically mention the book in his statement, but the timing made clear that it was issued in response. I stand by those decisions and by the conclusions of our investigation.โWeissmann's book, โWhere Law Ends: Inside The Mueller Investigation,โ is the first insider account of the Mueller team's investigation published by a former prosecutor who was part of it. Weissmann was one of the prosecutors involved in the financial crimes case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Mueller team identified significant contacts between Trump associates and Russians during the 2016 campaign, but did not allege a criminal conspiracy between the two to tip the election.
Robert Mueller โ and special counsel's office โ let the American people down on Trump probe, prosecutor says
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill on Wednesday July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. "'Absolutely, yep," Weissmann said, according to Packer, before quickly adding: "I wouldn't phrase it as just Mueller. George Packer of The Atlantic, during an interview with Weissmann , asked "if Mueller had let the American people down." Former special counsel Robert Mueller and his office let the American people down with their probe into President Donald Trump 's campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election , a prosecutor who served in the special counsel's office said in a new interview. When asked if the probe was a historic missed opportunity, Weissmann tersely replied, "That's fair," according to Packer.
cnbc.comEx-FBI agent Strzok due out with book about Trump, Russia
This cover image released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media shows "Compromised Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump" by Peter Strzok. The book will offer an insiders view on some of the most sensational and politically freighted investigations in modern American history, including into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the presidential election. Strzok briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team but was removed from his role after the Justice Department inspector general flagged derogatory and pejorative text messages about Trump that Strzok sent and received during the 2016 campaign. In a statement announcing the book, the publishing company said the Trump administration used his private expression of political opinions to force him out." Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department prosecutor who served on Mueller's team, is due out with a book in September.
Former Mueller prosecutor writing book on investigation
NEW YORK A top prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller has a book coming out this fall about the two-year investigation into the alleged ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump. Random House announced Monday that Andrew Weissmann's Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation will be published Sept. 29. Weissmann, often the target of criticism from Trump supporters, is calling the book a meticulous account of the Mueller team's probe and its ongoing battles with the Trump administration. Under Mueller, Weissmann led the case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2018. The Mueller Report, released in April 2019, found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to tip the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in Trumps favor.