Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann criticized U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for stalling former President Donald Trump’s documents trial after a key witness came forward.
Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago employee referenced as “Trump Employee 5” in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment, told CNN this week that he has repeatedly spoken with prosecutors but decided to come forward, in part, because Cannon said she would order the names of witnesses to be released despite Smith’s opposition.
Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller’s team, said that Butler’s public statements are a “huge indictment of our judicial system.”
“We're all listening to this, it's riveting. That's what a trial is supposed to be,” he said. “You know, Donald Trump should have his day in court, to be able to cross-examine all of this. But the public is entitled to not just hear from Mr. Butler, but everyone. The Supreme Court of the United States, that is putting a stay needlessly on the D.C. case, and Judge Cannon — don't get me started."
Weissmann said Cannon “clearly is not going to have this trial” given all the roadblocks she has thrown up in pre-trial proceedings.
"And that is why you have him speaking and, in some ways, they say, thank god he's speaking. Normally a prosecutor would be like, I do not want my witnesses to be doing this. I can't prevent them, but it's not a good thing. In this case, my reaction is, this is the only way the public is going to learn it. And that's really not right,” Weissmann said.
"This is the form where we can have some account after what happened," he added. "But it's not really enough. It's not ... really the way that we decide things in the United States. When there's a dispute, you have trials, and facts and law should matter. That's sort of my main reaction to this, you know, Judge Cannon has a lot to answer for."
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