Former prosecutor pursued by Trump calls for crackdown on election lies: ‘Lying can be held to account’

Andrew Weissmann argues for new law to hold political liars like US president accountable for harming democracy

Politicians must be held accountable if their lies damage democracy, according to a former US federal prosecutor and FBI general counsel who was pursued by Donald Trump.

The US must be “as creative as possible” and introduce sweeping structural reforms if it escapes its current “mess”, said Andrew Weissmann, laying out a proposal for a legislative crackdown on election deceit.

Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America is out now