Andrew Weissmann

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Andrew Weissmann
General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
In office
2011–2013
PresidentBarack Obama
DirectorRobert Mueller
Preceded byValerie E. Caproni
Succeeded byJames A. Baker
Personal details
Born (1958-03-17) March 17, 1958 (age 66)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Columbia University (JD)
Signature

Andrew A. Weissmann[3] (born March 17, 1958) is an American attorney and professor. He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1991 to 2002, when he prosecuted high-profile organized crime cases.[4] He served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller's Special Counsel's Office (2017–2019), as Chief of the Fraud Section in the Department of Justice (2015–2017) and is currently a professor at NYU Law School.[5]

In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Weissmann to be the deputy director and then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Enron Task Force.[5] Weissman also served as the General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2011 to 2013.[5]

Starting in 2015, he became the chief of the Criminal Fraud Section of the

U.S. Department of Justice. In June 2017, he was appointed to a management role on the 2017 special counsel team headed by Robert Mueller
. To assume that position, Weissmann took a leave from his Department of Justice post. The special counsel's investigation concluded in 2019 and Weissmann went into the private sector.

Early life and education

Weissman grew up in New York City, where he attended the

Fulbright scholarship to the University of Geneva, he received a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School (1984). He then clerked for Judge Eugene Nickerson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.[7] He is of Jewish descent.[8]

Career

In 1991, Weissmann worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and would remain in this role until 2002. While at EDNY, Weissmann tried more than 25 cases, some of which involved members of the Genovese, Colombo and Gambino crime families.[9] He led the prosecution team in the Vincent Gigante case, in which Gigante was convicted.[4]

From 2002 to 2005, Weissmann was the deputy director appointed by George W. Bush, prior to his assignment as the director of the task force investigating the

Supreme Court in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, in which the court held that "the jury instructions failed to convey the requisite consciousness of wrongdoing."[10][11]

In 2005, he worked as special counsel again with Mueller, before heading into private practice at

Fordham Law School, and Brooklyn Law School.[7]

On June 19, 2017, Weissmann joined Special Counsel Mueller's team to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[13][14][15] He was called "the architect of the case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort". A news report in March 2019 said he would soon leave the Justice Department and become a faculty member at New York University and work on public service projects.[16] In 2020, Weissmann returned to Jenner & Block as co-chair of its investigations, compliance and defense practice.[17]

Weissmann has been described as a "pitbull" by The New York Times, and critics have said he deployed "hard-nosed tactics and a 'win-at-all-costs' mentality" in the Enron prosecution.[18]

Media and publishing career

In 2019, Weissmann joined MSNBC as a legal analyst.[1] Since March 2023, he has co-hosted the MSNBC podcast Prosecuting Donald Trump with fellow former prosecutor Mary McCord, which won the 'Webby Winner' and 'People's Voice Winner' in the Crime & Justice category of the 2024 Webby Awards.[19][20]

On September 29, 2020, Random House released a book by Weissmann titled

Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b Vella, Lauren (November 15, 2019). "NBC signs Mueller 'pit bull' prosecutor Andrew Weissman as legal analyst". The Hill.
  2. ^ United States Public Records, 1970-2009 (New York, Texas, 1993-2004)
  3. ^ Columbia Law Review, Vol. 84, No. 5 (June 1984), pg. 1297
  4. ^ a b c Willman, David (February 19, 2018). "Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann has a reputation for hard-charging tactics — and sometimes going too far". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "Andrew Weissmann Biodata". its.law.nyu.edu. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  6. ^ Thomas, Burger; Defrank |, M. (January 26, 2002). "N.Y. PROSECUTOR TO RUN PROBE". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Press release: Andrew Weissmann Selected as Chief of Criminal Division's Fraud Section". U.S. Department of Justice. January 9, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  8. ^ Solomon, Daniel J. (July 7, 2017). "3 Jewish Prosecutors Join Robert Mueller's Team For Russia Meddling Probe". The Forward.
  9. ^ a b Darren Samuelsohn. Everything we know about the Mueller probe so far. Politico, June 6, 2017.
  10. ^ "Arthur Andersen to cut 7,000 jobs", cbc.ca. Accessed August 29, 2022.
  11. ^ Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, 544 U.S. 696 (2005), 544 US 696 (2005).
  12. Sydney Morning Herald
    , June 1, 2017.
  13. ^ Karen Freifeld. Mueller team lawyer brings witness-flipping expertise to Trump probes, Reuters. June 19, 2017.
  14. ^ Flegenheimer, Matt (October 31, 2017). "Andrew Weissmann, Mueller's Legal Pit Bull". The New York Times. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  15. The Jewish Daily Forward
    .
  16. ^ Carrie Johnson. Top Mueller Prosecutor Stepping Down. Morning Edition, NPR, March 14, 2019.
  17. ^ Strom, Roy (April 29, 2020). "Top Mueller Litigator Weissmann to Rejoin Jenner & Block in July". Bloomberg Law.
  18. ^ Top Mueller prosecutor stepping down in latest clue Russia inquiry may be ending, NPR. Accessed August 29, 2022.
  19. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  20. ^ "Prosecuting Donald Trump". The Webby Awards. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  21. OCLC 1197637045.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )

External links
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