Donald Trump Jr. chided the media for its seemingly indifferent reaction to Joe Biden announcing a fundraiser with Andrew Weissmann, one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s top prosecutors.
The president’s eldest son said there is a double standard that would have led to controversy if his father made a similar move.
“Imagine how bad the mainstream media would meltdown if the DOJ lawyer that moved to dismiss the Flynn case left DOJ and hosted a fundraiser for [President Trump],” he tweeted on Thursday, referring to the case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“But because the media worships both Biden and Weissmann….crickets,” he added. “Absolutely Pathetic!”
Imagine how bad the mainstream media would meltdown if the DOJ lawyer that moved to dismiss the Flynn case left DOJ and hosted a fundraiser for @realDonaldTrump?
But because the media worships both Biden and Weissmann….crickets
Absolutely Pathetic! https://t.co/JaYfa0ARpd— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 21, 2020
The announcement of the virtual “fireside chat,” set for June 2, was also met with ridicule by the Trump reelection campaign.
“It’s no surprise that a guy who tried to take down the president through the sham impeachment would also help Joe Biden’s campaign,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told the Washington Examiner. “It doesn’t get any swampier than this: trying to stage a partisan coup against the president and then raising money for his political opponent.”
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.
He has repeatedly voiced criticism of Trump and his administration as an NBC News legal analyst. Last month, it was announced he was rejoining Jenner & Block as its investigations co-chairman.
Weissmann attended a 2016 election night party in New York for Hillary Clinton and wrote “I am so proud” in the subject line of an email to Sally Yates the night she was fired as acting attorney general for instructing DOJ lawyers not to defend Trump’s initial travel ban.
Trump and his allies have long called the Mueller investigation a “witch hunt” and have been particularly critical of Weissmann. The specter of the Russia inquiry lives on, with the House Democrats seeking grand jury material from Mueller’s report that they say is needed to decide on new articles of impeachment against Trump. The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling in favor of the disclosure on Wednesday as it considers whether to take up the case. This means Congress may not receive the secret material until after the November election.
The Biden team claims to be entering a “new phase” of the campaign, an announcement that came right after a reporter was unceremoniously kicked from a fundraising call with Wall Street donors.
