Top Robert Mueller prosecutor and Clinton ally Andrew Weissman drafted an indictment of President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, according to a new book by gossip writer Michael Wolff.
In Siege: Trump Under Fire, Wolff claims that Weissman drafted a three-count indictment of Trump in March 2018. The claim has not been verified, and Mueller’s office denied that the draft indictment existed when The Guardian reported on its alleged existence last month.
The rumor
In his most recent book, Wolff claimed that Weissman drew up an indictment for obstructing an investigation, tampering with a witness, and retaliating against a witness. Wolff said the claim was “based on internal documents given to me by sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.”
In a preview of Wolff’s book, The Guardian reported last month that it had seen the documents. But a spokesman for Mueller pushed back against the claim.
“The documents that you’ve described do not exist,” Mueller spokesman Peter Carr told the Washington Examiner.
But if they do, the draft indictment would fit perceptions that Weissman and Mueller targeted the president with a political “witch hunt.” Republicans have long questioned Weissman’s role in the Mueller probe over his Democrat connections.
Before joining the special counsel’s office in May 2017, Weissman was the head of the criminal fraud division at former president Barack Obama’s Justice Department. Weissman attended Hillary Clinton’s election night party in 2016, and he defended former Attorney General Sally Yates for defying President Trump’s travel ban. Weissman was also among those briefed on Christopher Steele’s salacious Russian dossier by former DOJ official Bruce Ohr.
Ongoing skepticism
For his part, Wolff is not exactly known for placing a premium on facts. His previous book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, was met with skepticism for its salacious claims, and his sequel is already facing similar scrutiny from across the political spectrum.
Indeed, while Wolff had access to the White House for his first book, Siege relies on second-hand sources like Steve Bannon, who has long since fallen out with Trump. In a New York Times interview, Wolff admitted that he does not check stories with his subjects.
Wolff’s claims about obstruction also seem conveniently timed, to say the least. His new book comes days after Mueller, in his first and only remarks on his investigation, said that indicting Trump for obstruction of justice was “not an option,” setting off an impeachment furor on the left. Mueller laid out 10 instances of what he considered potential obstruction of justice in his report, but ultimately declined to issue a judgment, citing Justice Department policy about indicting sitting presidents.
“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so,” Mueller said. “We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”
The missing piece
Contrary to Mueller, Wolff claims that the special counsel wrote a 56-page memorandum arguing against a potential motion to dismiss the draft indictment and laying out the case for indicting a sitting president. Defending his claim on MSNBC on Monday night, Wolff called the alleged memorandum the “missing piece” of the Mueller “puzzle.”
“The document is a 56-page document. It assumes that the president has been indicted. It assumes that he, in turn, has come back and made a motion to dismiss that indictment on grounds that you can’t indict a sitting president,” Wolff said. “Then this document is a response to that.”
Of course, Wolff’s claim could just be another cynical anti-Trump cash grab past its expiration date. Either way, it makes little difference now that Mueller’s work is done.
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