Is there any worse figure in the DOJ’s recent history than Andrew Weissmann? The infamous “pitbull” of the Robert Mueller investigation into “Russian collusion” spent his career at the department breaking the rules, having major convictions thrown out, and doggedly pursuing his political enemies.
Once Donald Trump left office, he apparently felt his job was done, and Weissmann moved directly over the MSNBC to become a legal analyst. In that role he’s continued his crusade, serving as a favorite of BlueAnon (i.e. the wildly partisan, conspiracy-minded left). Since becoming a media figure, Weissmann has always been there to confirm their priors, first and foremost being that the orange man was indeed bad.
But when you court the BlueAnon true-believers, you will eventually die by the BlueAnon true-believers, and Weissmann is feeling the pressure after he stepped out of line on Saturday. Specifically, he had the audacity to ask some basic questions about Joe Biden’s handling of his classified documents scandal.
Here’s just a taste of the outrage he faced after saying the White House is “digging a hole deeper.”
The left’s psychosis is on perfect display in those posts. When you are telling BlueAnon what it wants to hear, it’s a docile entity that will lavish praise on your takes and advance your career. But when you dare to go against their conspiratorial fever dreams, much less question a Democrat politician, the gloves immediately come off. Everything is a “straightforward analysis” for BlueAnon until he conflicts with their chosen reality.
Certainly, Weissmann deserves the angst he’s now receiving, but he also happens to be right in his critique. Why is the Biden administration claiming transparency while refusing to answer basic questions? They keep making it sound like every “found” batch of classified documents will be the last, yet more and more just keep turning up. What did they contain? What’s the total number so far? What were the levels of classification? How did the higher-classification material end up outside of a SCIF?
We know via leaks that at least some of what was found deals with Ukraine and Iran. We also know that some were marked top secret (which means they were marked in a way that would have been impossible to miss). The full extent of everything is still a mystery, though. Further, this was kept secret for two months, including through an election, and Biden now wants to assert he’s being transparent because he got caught. That’s not how any of this works.
Every step of the way, the White House has obfuscated what took place. Every shoe that has dropped has been covered up until a leak has forced their hand. We went from one “accidental” trove of documents to four, and there’s no reason to think there aren’t more. The official narrative has crumbled, and even Andrew Weissmann, of all people, is starting to see the writing on the wall.