“It is so anathema to democracy. It is what happens in Russia,” former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said.
I was listening to MSNBC in my car Monday when former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann dropped his comments:
The discussion was about the role of right-wing media in Donald Trump's so-called hush money case. The National Enquirer’s David Pecker had began his trial testimony earlier in the day. Raw Story has more:
Weissmann then noted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's contention that Michael Cohen paid $50,000 for a poll that would show Trump as a successful businessman.
That is putting lipstick on a pig plus stuff," Weissmann said. "But then there's denigrating his adversaries. And so this is very much like the precursor to Fox News."
Then came the part that really caught my attention:
WEISSMANN: This is very much like the precursor to Fox News. And just a final point on that: When I was in the Mueller investigation, Paul Manafort and Sean Hannity – texting all of the time about strategy and about what Sean Hannity should sat at what point and what Paul Manaford should be doing.
NICOLLE WALLACE (host): With the purpose of influencing the jury or with the purpose of getting a pardon from Trump or both?
WEISSMANN: Both. But definitely influencing how he’s seen so that it would attack us, sort of “courts are unfair, it is a witch hunt, I didn’t do anything wrong.” What didn’t help in all of that was when Paul Manafort went ahead and obstructed by coaching two witnesses to lie and so he got thrown in jail.
But before then, this was the whole plan and the idea was, it was complicit with a reporter. …
It is so anathema to democracy. It is what happens in Russia.
I would bet that Weissmann's irony was intended.
Somehow, I missed the fact that hundreds of text messages between Hannity and Manafort were revealed in 2019. The exchanges are pretty shocking.
NBC News' 2019 article offers a taste:
Hannity and Manafort, who is serving a 7 1/2 year prison sentence on charges brought by ex-special counsel Robert Mueller, sometimes texted multiple times a day between July 2017 and June 2018, according to the newly-released court documents.
In late January of this year, Manafort said in one message, "Sean, per our conversation this morning, my attorney -- Kevin Downing -- will call you at 11:30 am tomorrow. He will update you on what we are doing and how it connects to your reporting. What number should I give him to call you?”
Hannity replies, "Awesome," and says "I asked him to feed me every day" and later says, "HE HAS TO SEND ME STUFF."
Putin would be so pleased.
You can watch Weissmann below, from MSNBC’s April 22, 2024 Deadline: White House, via Raw Story’s Matthew Chapman.