Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, told MSNBC on Monday that a ripped-up note that was reconstructed and made part of the House Jan. 6 committee's investigation "absolutely" shows former President Donald Trump's intent after the 2020 election. Trump aide Jonny McEntee wrote the note after the then-U.S. Army secretary and then-U.S. Army chief of staff declared in a December 2020 statement that the military could not determine the outcome of a U.S. election. “[Acting Defense Secretary] Chris Miller spoke to both of them and anticipates no more statements coming out. (If another happens, he will fire them)," reads the note, which is also included in ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl's new book, “Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party.”
Weissmann told MSNBC that the note "absolutely" demonstrates Trump's intent for the military, which he noted is "incredibly" law-abiding. "As much of you think of it as a military organization with a hierarchy, they are also trained that they do not violate the Constitution," Weissman continued. "And when there’s an invalid order, they know that they cannot follow it because the Constitution comes first.” The NYU law professor then expressed concern that Trump has now learned "the levers of power," which he'll know how to use if he wins a second term. “I remember when he first started a friend … said this was malevolence matched by incompetence so they weren’t really effective,” Weissmann recalled. “The Muslim ban is a perfect example where it took them so many tries to get it ‘right’ so it could pass muster.”
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