Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann found NOT GUILTY of lying to the FBI in John Durham probe
Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann is ACQUITTED of lying to FBI in John Durham’s Russia probe: Trump tears into ‘corrupt’ legal system and ‘partisan’ compromised judges
The lawyer was accused of misrepresenting himself to the FBI in a meeting with a federal agent, not disclosing that he was working with Hillary ClintonHe was employed by her campaign when presenting purported links between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank to a federal agent in 2016It’s the only case in Durham’s three-year probe to have gone to trial so far The Washington, DC jury deliberated for six hours before reaching the verdict‘Our Legal System is CORRUPT, our Judges (and Justices!) are highly partisan, compromised or just plain scared,’ Donald Trump wrote on Truth SocialSussmann said outside of the courthouse after the verdict, ‘Despite being falsely accused, I’m relieved that justice ultimately prevailed in my case’
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Former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann has been found not guilty of lying to the FBI in the first trial of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into what sparked the investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
It’s one of just two indictments and one guilty plea in Durham’s three-year inquiry into the origins of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, spurred by allegations that Trump‘s 2016 campaign got help from Russia.
After just six hours of deliberation, a jury rejected Durham’s claim that Sussmann lied to federal agents when sending them dirt on Trump‘s alleged links to a bank backed by Moscow.
Trump slammed the verdict as the result of a ‘corrupt’ legal system.
‘Our Legal System is CORRUPT, our Judges (and Justices!) are highly partisan, compromised or just plain scared, our Borders are OPEN, our Elections are Rigged, inflation is RAMPANT, gas prices and food costs are “through the roof,” our Military “Leadership” is Woke, our Country is going to HELL, and Michael Sussmann is not guilty,’ the ex-president fumed on his social media app Truth Social.
‘How’s everything else doing? Enjoy your day!!!’
Sussmann said outside of the courthouse on Tuesday, ‘I told the truth to the FBI, and the jury clearly recognized that with their unanimous verdict today. I’m grateful to the members of the jury for their careful, thoughtful service.’
‘Despite being falsely accused, I’m relieved that justice ultimately prevailed in my case.’
He said the past year had been ‘difficult’ on him and his family.
‘But right now we are just grateful for the love and support of so many during this ordeal and i look forward to getting back tot he work I love,’ the attorney said.
Attorney Michael Sussmann’s trial was the first in Special Counsel John Durham’s three-year investigation into the 2017 Mueller probe
Durham said after the trial, ‘While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision & thank them for their service.’
‘I also want to recognize & thank the investigators & the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth & justice in this case,’ the investigator added.
Prosecutors claimed that Sussmann misrepresented himself to former FBI General Counsel Jim Baker when he asked for a meeting in 2016, where he then presented purported evidence connecting the Trump Organization and a top Russian bank.
Durham claimed the attorney posed himself as a concerned citizen when in reality he was working on behalf of Hillary Clinton and a tech executive named Rodney Joffe.
Durham was appointed to look into the government’s handling of the 2017 Russian election interference probe by Trump Attorney General Bill Barr
Baker told a jury earlier this month that denying acting on behalf of ‘any particular client’ was ‘part of [Sussmann’s] introduction to the meeting’
He said knowingly meeting with a campaign operative would ‘raise very serious questions’ in his mind ‘about the credibility of the source and the veracity of the info,’ according to the New York Post.
‘I think I would have said: Meet with case agents associated with the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Meet with the ‘Midyear Exam’ folks,’ Baker said.
The special counsel also claimed in an April court filing that Sussmann worked with Joffe and his company and ‘numerous cyber researchers, and employees at multiple Internet companies’ to access damaging information about Trump.
Trump fumed about the verdict on Truth Social shortly after the jury’s decision was announced
They claim Sussmann did not tell agents that he was working on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign
Durham’s filing alleges that Sussmann met with ‘the author of a now well-known dossier regarding Trump,’ believed to be Christopher Steele, at the offices of ‘Law Firm-1,’ believed to be Perkins Coie, his former employer.
Steele’s dossier had been seized upon by Democrats as proof that Trump was under the Kremlin’s influence but the former British spy’s purported evidence has since widely been questioned and discredited.
It was also used as the basis for the FBI to launch an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, which led to the Mueller probe.
That investigation did not find collusion between Trump’s team and Moscow but uncovered Russia did make efforts to tip the scales in the ex-president’s favor.
Sussmann’s lawyers denied that he lied to the FBI, and argue that his alleged misstatement would not have had any bearing on the bureau’s actions either way.
During the trial they stressed that there was no proof the Clinton campaign directed Sussmann to go to the FBI, nor did they believe prosecutors could prove what exactly was said during Sussmann’s meeting with Baker.
Durham had been appointed by Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr. His team indicted Sussmann in September 2021.
Barr criticized Mueller’s Russia investigation in a recent episode of conservative talk host Glenn Beck’s podcast.
‘I think whatever you think of Trump, the fact is that the whole Russiagate thing was a grave injustice. It was a – it appears to be a dirty political trick that was used first to hobble him and then potentially to drive him from office,’ Barr said.
Asked by Beck if he believed the probe was ‘at least seditious’ if not ‘treason,’ Barr responded: ‘I believe it is seditious, yes.’
Durham’s probe faced a setback late last month when a judge refused to allow Clinton’s past tweets accusing Trump of working with Russia to be entered into the record.
Judge Christopher Cooper had ruled that the social media posts constituted hearsay and were ‘duplicative of other evidence.’
The GOP-appointed special counsel had tried to get a pair of tweets dated October 31, 2016 into the record ahead of Sussmann’s trial.
In one, Clinton linked a Slate article detailing alleged communication between Trump’s real estate business and Alfa Bank.
‘It’s time for Trump to answer serious questions about his ties to Russia,’ the Democrat captioned her post.
The additional follow-up tweet read: ‘Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.’
During his three-year probe, Durham also got an indictment against a Russian national who was residing in the United States. Researcher Igor Danchenko has pleaded not guilty after being accused of giving false information on Trump-Russia links to the FBI.
Danchenko was indicted in November 2021 and faces an upcoming trial in October.
Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty in Durham’s probe over charges stemming from deliberately altering an email that was used to obtain a surveillance warrant against former Trump aide Carter Page.
