Andrew Weissmann, one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s top prosecutors, encouraged the Justice Department to “vindicate the rule of law” by putting Roger Stone before a grand jury.
He wrote in an op-ed published by the New York Times on Tuesday that President Trump commuting the 40-month prison sentence for his longtime friend “does not have to be the end of the story.”
“To get at the truth of why he lied” to congressional investigators about his alleged outreach to WikiLeaks for “Russian dirt” on Trump’s Democratic 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, Weissmann said Stone could be served with a grand jury subpoena, either by a federal or state prosecutor or even with a congressional subpoena.
Weissmann noted reporting that Attorney General William Barr privately urged against clemency for Stone and voiced hope that Barr might still pursue the GOP operative. “The tools to get at the truth are there and should be used. If Mr. Barr does not support their use, we should all ask ourselves why not,” he wrote.
Weissmann explored three options Stone would have, including lying and refusing to comply with a subpoena, which he noted would expose Stone to criminal liability.
“Finally, Mr. Stone’s third choice — the one that does not carry with it the risk of criminal charges and jail — is simply to tell the truth,” he wrote.
Stone, 67, had been convicted of lying to congressional investigators about his alleged outreach to WikiLeaks, obstructing a congressional investigation, and attempting to intimidate a possible congressional witness. With the commutation, Stone’s 40-month sentence, supervised release, and unpaid fine were wiped away days before he was set to go to prison. But without a pardon, Stone maintains his criminal record.
Weissmann, a former Justice Department official who was known as Mueller’s “pit bull” during the Russia investigation, played an instrumental role in winning convictions against former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.
After Mueller wrote a Washington Post opinion piece over the weekend defending the Russia investigation and stressing that Stone “remains a convicted felon, and rightfully so,” it was announced that Weissmann will have a book coming out in September about the Russia investigation.
Former Trump attorney John Dowd dismissed Weissmann’s suggestion that Stone should go before a grand jury and said the former FBI general counsel should be investigated by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is looking into whether any crimes were committed during the Russia investigation.
“Weissmann and his dream team failed in their first attempt to manufacture a crime and want to further abuse the process when their sorry effort has been exposed,” Dowd told the Washington Times. “The Stone indictment did not allege a crime by President Trump. So why further abuse the process except more sour grapes? Mr. Durham ought to take a hard look at Mr. Weissmann’s conduct on the dream team.”
