Andrew Weissmann, head of the Justice Department’s fraud section, is joining special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Weissmann is the most senior government official to join Mueller, the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director who became special counsel on May 17, said two people, who asked not to be named discussing a personnel matter that hasn’t been made public. Mueller recently brought on Peter Carr, a veteran spokesman for the Justice Department, to deal with the news media. He also hired at least two lawyers from his former law firm, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP.
Weissmann’s specialties have included corporate fraud and foreign bribery. For two and half years, he has overseen investigations into Volkswagen AG over diesel-cheating, global banks over market manipulation and Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras over corrupt payments.
Weissmann previously worked for Mueller as the FBI’s general counsel from 2011 to 2013. He also has experience with special investigations, having worked on and later managed the Enron task force during the George W. Bush administration.