Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Mueller Deputy Andrew Weissmann Text Messages Regarding Trump, Clinton

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit asking the court to compel the Department of Justice produce “all text messages to or from DOJ official Andrew Weissmann” regarding President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-01356)). Weissmann is a senior deputy for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and a former chief of the Justice Department criminal fraud division.

Judicial Watch filed suit after the DOJ failed to respond to a December 15, 2017, FOIA request for:

• All text messages sent to or from DOJ official Andrew Weissmann regarding Donald Trump and/or Hillary Clinton between August 8, 2016 and the present.
• All calendar entries, whether in physical or electronic form, for Weissmann from January 1, 2015 to the present.

Weissmann’s objectivity in Mueller’s investigation was called into question in December 2017 when a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit uncovered an email Weissmann wrote praising former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for defying Trump on enforcement of the president’s so-called travel ban.

Weissmann wrote to Obama appointee Yates in the email: “I am so proud. And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects.” President Trump fired Yates over her refusal to defend the policy.  Yates was appointed by President Obama and was serving in an acting capacity as Attorney General for President Trump.

Also in December 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that Weissmann had been in attendance at Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election night party. According to the Washington Post, Weissman contributed more than $4000 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2008 and $2300 to the Clinton campaign in 2007.

Weissmann, described by The New York Times as Mueller’s “pit bull,” is the lead prosecutor in the Mueller team’s case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

“Andrew Weissmann is demonstrably an anti-Trump/pro-Clinton activist,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And it is suspicious the Justice Department refuses to turn over any Weissmann text messages, especially given the anti-Trump bias documented in the FBI”s Strzok-Page texts.”

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