LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Greg D. Andres looked like any ordinary guest at the Westin hotel here, standing near the valet in flip-flops and a white Notre Dame boxing T-shirt, waiting for a Postmates delivery from Shake Shack. The moment would be unremarkable save for Mr. Andres’s role as the lead prosecutor for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in the trial of Paul Manafort, concluding its third week here. Even the briefest glimpses of Mr. Mueller’s investigators, who have spoken publicly only in court papers and short court appearances since the inquiry began, draw notice. Mr. Manafort’s tax and bank fraud trial has provided the first real look at the special counsel’s team, the elusive players in the central drama of Washington political life and the subjects of fascination for the capital’s chattering classes. Tagged by President Trump as ’17 angry Democrats,’ they have shown themselves to be typical, if harried, government lawyers, staying at the hotel opposite the courthouse to devote most of their waking hours to trying the case. Other members of the special counsel’s office have joined Mr. Andres in the courtroom, including Andrew Weissmann, one of Mr. Mueller’s top deputies, who oversaw the prosecution from a seat in the back. Like a basketball coach during timeouts, he huddled with the others during recesses for strategy sessions, clutching a green government-issue notebook that the rest of the team used during the trial, making them easy to identify.”
–Noah Weiland, “Meet the Special Counsel Team: So Careful They Won’t Even Disclose Their Shake Shack Orders,” The New York Times online, August 16, 2018