Cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann was indicted this week as part of former Attorney General John Durham’s investigation into Democrats’ mishandling of the Trump-Russia collusion probe.
According to the 27-page indictment, Sussmann lied to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 when he presented a thumb drive purporting to reveal links between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank known as Alfa Bank.
As confirmed by Baker during 2018 hearing, Sussmann claimed he was not doing this work “for any client.” In reality, Sussmann and his law firm, Perkins Coie, were actively working for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Sussmann’s claim “led the General Counsel to understand that Sussmann was providing information as a good citizen rather than a paid advocate or political operative,” wrote the Justice Department.
His lie was “material,” added prosecutors, “becuase, among other reasons, Sussmann’s false statement misled the FBI general counsel and other FBI personnel concerning the political nature of his work and deprived the FBI of information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and technical analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussmann’s clients.”
Sussmann’s meeting with Baker prompted an FBI investigation into the Trump-Alfa allegation, which was purposefully leaked to the media. Keep in mind this is around the same time Perkins Coie paid research company Fusion GPS to produce a series of slanderous reports (AKA the “Steele dossier) that were treated as evidence by Democrats as they pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
Sussmann’s attorneys, Michael Bosworth and Sean Berkowitz, claim their client shared data with the FBI in the interest of national security. “Regardless of who Mr. Sussmann’s clients were, or even if he had no clients at all, none of that would have mattered.”
Sussmann’s clients matter a great deal in this case and it seems obvious that he lied to Baker in hopes of triggering an investigation that would harm Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and therefore benefit his client, Hillary Clinton.
Furthermore, the indictment traces the Trump-Alfa claim to a cybersecurity expert (another one of Sussmann’s clients) who had been hoping to earn a top spot in the Clinton Administration.
“The narrow Sussmann indictment opens another window on a far greater offense,” notes The Wall Street Journal. “Which was the Clinton team and the media’s dirty trick against US democracy. The indictment alleges that Mr. Elias [a lawyer at Perkins Coie] kept Clinton campaign officials informed about the scam, including the ‘campaign manager, communications director, and foreign policy advisor.’”
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John Durham was selected by then-Attorney General William Barr in May 2019 to take a closer look at the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation and to reveal suspected crimes committed by intelligence officials. The charge against Sussmann comes as Durham nears a deadline to complete his investigation and decide whether to seek charges regarding the mishandling of evidence.
Sussmann resigned Thursday in order to focus on his upcoming legal defense.
Sources:
Lawyer indicted on charges of lying to FBI as part of Durham probe into Trump-Russia investigation