Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann didn’t hold back on MSNBC when he warned about what he sees as a dangerous misuse of the military under President Donald Trump.
Weissmann pointed to Trump’s moves to authorize strikes on boats in international waters suspected of carrying drugs and his calls to send forces into American cities. He said these actions are not only unlawful but also put Americans’ rights at serious risk.
“The question is going to really be for the courts, how much are they going to say, you know what? That is not a good faith determination when you are saying, for instance, what’s happening in dropping bombs on Venezuelan boats, that there is no armed conflict, there is no imminence, there is no self-defense,” Weissmann said. “None of the things that would justify that.”
Weissmann argued the danger becomes even clearer when those tactics are used at home. “And it’s going to be even more salient when it comes onshore,” he said. “And we’re talking about attacks that are happening in Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago”.
“And you have this sort of quote from Stephen Miller about ‘unleashing’ law enforcement. You know what the leash is in this country? The Constitution of the United States. That is something that you have to adhere to. There’s no ‘unleashing’ and getting around that just by saying black is white.”
MSNBC anchor Melissa Murray pressed him on Trump’s recent comments to generals authorizing them to “handle the enemy within,” and his simultaneous claims of powers against foreign enemies. “What’s the link here? How do we bring all of this together?” she asked.
Weissmann said he sees it as an effort to erode the rule of law and feed off political divisions. “I really think about it as an eradication of the rule of law and a very cynical view that Americans’ sort of political view that they will think, you know what?
“As long as I want to get rid of immigrants that are vilified as being rapists and murderers, and as long as I’m going after drug dealers, that it’s okay to have these kinds of violations,” he said. “And I think, by the same token, as The New York Times has pointed out, are Democrats going to be reluctant to criticize this on the theory that they’ll look weak on crime?”
Weissmann stressed that enforcing the law does not mean breaking it. “As somebody who’s been in law enforcement for over 20 years, you know what? You can be really strong on crime and you can want to prosecute it, and you can also obey the law when you do it,” he said.
For Weissmann, Trump’s actions raise the stakes for the courts, Congress, and the public in defending constitutional limits. His warning was blunt: when leaders frame illegal actions as necessary for security, it risks normalizing violations of rights at home and abroad.