The Guardian – 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. Andrew Weissmann argues for new law to hold political liars like US president accountable for harming democracy. 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. “Lying can be held to account,” argued Weissmann, a senior figure in former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and Trump’s links to Moscow. The former federal prosecutor remains a prominent voice against Trump and his assault on US institutions and justice, as a professor and analyst for liberal cable network MS Now. Speaking from Paris, where he teaches for NYU, Weissmann said: “If we ever get out of this mess, what systemic reforms can we do? Because I think we tried going back to the old norms [under Joe Biden] and thinking that was going to be enough, and maybe it will be, but I just have been thinking a lot about, structurally, what we can do differently. “I think the circumstances in the United States have made it imperative that we be as creative as possible.” In a new book, Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America, Weissmann makes the case for major reform to hold political liars to account when their lies damage democracy itself, without falling afoul of free speech rights under the first amendment. Weissmann proposes a Truth in Elections Act, built on existing law. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which criminalizes lying about military honors “with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit”, survived a US supreme court challenge…”