Politics

Mueller’s ‘Lieutenant’ Applauded Official For Defying Trump

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Andrew Weissmann, an attorney working for special counsel Robert Mueller, praised former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to enforce President Trump’s travel ban, emails released Tuesday reveal.

“I am so proud. And in awe. Thank you so much. All my deepest respects,” Weissmann wrote to Yates on Jan. 30. That same day, Yates told the Justice Department not to defend an executive order banning immigration from seven nations, an act that led to her dismissal by President Trump.

The emails were obtained by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

WATCH: 

“This is an astonishing and disturbing find. Andrew Weissmann, a key prosecutor on Robert Mueller’s team, praised Obama DOJ holdover Sally Yates after she lawlessly thwarted President Trump,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “How much more evidence do we need that the Mueller operation has been irredeemably compromised by anti-Trump partisans? Shut it down.”

Weissmann is one of many Democratic donors that have been hired by Mueller to work on his probe into Russian election interference. Weissmann gave a combined $6,600 to the Democratic National Committee and the presidential campaigns for both former President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

An October New York Times report described Weissmann as Mueller’s “lieutenant” and “pit bull.” A spokesman for the special counsel investigation declined to comment.

The revelation of Weissmann’s email to Yates comes after a report that an FBI agent supervising the Trump-Russia probe sent anti-Trump text messages.

Correction: Weissmann’s name is not spelled “Weissman.”