Andrew Weissmann Retires Special Advocate Robert Mueller Team: NPR

One of the most prominent members of the team of the special advocate Robert Mueller, charged with investigating the attack of Russia by the presidential election of 2016, will soon leave office and the Ministry of Justice, told NPR two sources close to the case.

Andrew Weissmann, the trial architect against former Trump campaign president Paul Manafort, will study and teach at New York University and work on a variety of public service projects, including his long-standing interest in preventing wrongful convictions by strengthening the standards of forensic science in force courts, the sources added.

The departure is the most powerful sign to date that Mueller and his team have practically completed their work.

Manafort was sentenced to approximately seven and a half years of imprisonment in a federal prison as a result of two cases arising out of Mueller's investigation, although neither of the two cases concerns an alleged collusion with the Russians who got involved in the elections.

Weissmann was most affected by attacks from critics such as Rush Limbaugh and conservative legal interest groups.

They cited his presence at Hillary Clinton's election night in 2016 and a positive e-mail that he had written to former acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she refused to defend the first travel ban imposed by the Trump government on Muslims.

A later version of this ban was finally confirmed by a majority of the Supreme Court.

Trump's former advisor, Steve Bannon, also warned Weissmann and other members of the team of specialized legal advisers when they were appointed in 2017.

Trump and his assistants would be confronted with a group of "killers", as Bannon would have said. Author Michael Wolff wrote that Bannon had told him that Weissmann was like "the LeBron James money laundering investigations".

Former Enron prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler said there was a reason for the attacks on Weissmann.

"Andrew is attacked because he is feared, the people under investigation know how effective he is," Ruemmler said. "He possesses not only unparalleled technical skills, but also the intrepidity necessary to pursue complex and far-reaching business and a passionate commitment to ensuring that justice is done."

Departures from the office of the special advocate

The decision of Weissmann is a strong sign that the investigation of the special advocate is almost complete, said a source.

His departure will follow that of the oldest FBI agent working on the Mueller probe, who has taken his own measurements. Special Agent in Charge, David Archey, began his new job on March 4 at the head of the FBI's Richmond, Virginia office.

Earlier this month, another special prosecutor, Brandon Van Grack, led the Justice Department's efforts to enforce the Foreign Agent Registration Act, a law that is subject to keen interest after the charges against Manafort, his right arm. Richard Gates and Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

And WilmerHale, the law firm that Mueller and several other prosecutors have left to help form the team of specialized legal advisers, is preparing for the return of some of his former lawyers, said three lawyers at NPR these last weeks.

Former prosecutor

Weissmann has always had a complex financial relationship and has co-operated with people from illicit businesses and businesses to take legal action against senior executives.

As the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, Weissmann was convicted of the head of the Gambino crime family, based on the testimony of Sammy's "The Bull" Gravano and others.

He then led the Department of Justice's Fraud Investigation Task Force at Enron Corp., a high-profile energy company, including executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey. Skilling, were convicted by a jury in Houston.

Lay died before being sentenced. Skilling served 12 years behind bars before his recent release.

At the time, critics said that Mr. Weissmann had demonstrated uncompromising tactics and a "win at all costs" mentality. They pointed out that the conviction of the accounting firm that drafted Enron's books, Arthur Andersen, had been overturned unanimously by the Supreme Court, which had cited erroneous instructions given to the jury.

This case has prompted Congress to pass a new law on the obstruction of justice, but it remains to be seen whether this law will be successful as part of the ongoing investigation in the Mueller case.

Leslie Caldwell worked alongside Weissmann in Brooklyn and the Washington Department of Justice. She said that he has a reputation for achieving results.

"Throughout his career, Andrew has enjoyed unprecedented success in building successive deals against the world's most sophisticated criminals," said Caldwell. "He attacked New York's most feared organized crime families, unraveled Enron's incredibly ornamental frauds, and tracked down international criminals, revealing their carefully hidden financial transactions in many dark corners of the world."

Weissmann has moved in and out of the public service several times during his legal career. He has done high-level legal work for the US Chamber of Commerce and other companies, before joining the Justice Department as the FBI's General Counsel, under the leadership of Mueller.

During this period, Weissmann worked closely with the Innocence Project to put in place an extensive review of cases in which defendants could have been wrongly convicted, based on bad testimonies of FBI forensic experts. .