Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama, said Weissmann is willing to take risks to secure witness testimony that other prosecutors might not. Ruemmler worked with Weissmann on the Justice Department's Enron task force that investigated the massive corporate fraud that led to the company's 2001 collapse.
Ruemmler recalled that Weissmann had a hunch that former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan would be willing to talk despite already having pleaded guilty without agreeing to cooperate. So Weissmann had U.S. marshals bring Glisan before the grand jury from prison, Ruemmler said.
Other prosecutors might have feared Glisan's testimony could contradict their theory of the case, Ruemmler said, but Weissmann's gamble paid off when the former executive became a key witness.
"He's not afraid to lose, and that is sometimes an unusual quality," Ruemmler said of Weissmann.
Weissmann also led lengthy negotiations with lawyers for Andrew Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer and a star prosecution witness in the case, gaining leverage from the fact that prosecutors had indicted Fastow's wife, also a former Enron employee, on tax fraud charges.
Both pleaded guilty, and Fastow testified against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who was convicted in 2006.