Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann criticized the handling of investigations into Donald Trump, arguing he has received preferential treatment compared to others who have faced criminal charges.
Weissmann said Trump is given more leeway and leniency than organized crime figures or Paul Manafort, who was jailed for obstruction of justice.
Weissmann said, “You know, when I look at this, it’s not a reflection of Donald Trump. We know what he is. He has engaged in this behavior. It will increasingly be over the top as he gets closer and closer. This is about our institutions about how they are incapable of handling these situation. In normal cases, when I have handled organized crime cases, violent criminals, there’s a process where they have held to standards.”
By delaying trials, investigations, and not holding Trump to the same standards as all defendants, Weissmann believes the justice system has developed a unique, more lenient set of rules for Trump that violates the principle of equal treatment under the law.
“If they were to engage in this context, yes, they’re giving one bite at the apple, one warning, and then there are consequences, which can include and on which does include jail. Just think about not that long ago, Paul Manafort, he committed obstruction of justice by coaching two witnesses to lie, and he was remanded by the federal judge who oversaw his case,” he said.
He added, “I really think this is a situation with so many people bending over backwards, given the former president of the benefit of doubt over and over again. I think that is the road to hell. By not having held thinks trials already, by not investigating in a timely way, by not holding him to the exact same standard we’re both violating or oaths of office, what it means to have a justice system that holds everyone to the same standard.”
He said Trump is treated with “kid gloves” and anyone would say he receives an “ultra-fair” process, making claims of being treated unfairly “laughable.”
Weissmann warned this two-tiered system could undermine democracy if powerful political figures are not held equally accountable.
“I know a lot of times it’s born out of the trying to be ultra-fair, but it’s leading to beyond two systems of justice, it’s a unique system of justice for Donald Trump, which is not constant with what it means to have a democracy. We may find ourselves without a democracy if we don’t wise up and hold him to the same standard of everyone else that has ever been treated in all of the criminal cases I’ve done in my entire life,” he said.
Weissmann added, “The idea he can say he’s being treated unfairly is so laughable, because I think anybody on this panel would say he’s been treated with kid gloves by the system.”
