Special counsel John Durham is expected to indict Clinton-connected lawyer Michael Sussmann in the coming days. Sussmann, who was connected to Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, is expected to be indicted for lying to the FBI during a meeting about the Trump-Russia hoax.
The Daily Wire reports:
“The case against Mr. Sussmann centers on the question of who his client was when he conveyed certain suspicions about Mr. Trump and Russia to the F.B.I. in September 2016,” The New York Times reported. “Among other things, investigators have examined whether Mr. Sussmann was secretly working for the Clinton campaign — which he denies.”
In the meeting with James Baker, “Sussmann relayed data and analysis from cybersecurity researchers who thought that odd internet data might be evidence of a covert communications channel between computer servers associated with the Trump Organization and with Alfa Bank, a Kremlin-linked Russian financial institution,” The New York Times reported. “The F.B.I. eventually decided those concerns had no merit. The special counsel who later took over the Russia investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, ignored the matter in his final report.”
Durham reportedly found that Sussmann told Baker during the meeting in 2016 that he was not representing any client when he sought the meeting. However, in a 2017 deposition before Congress, Sussmann testified that he sought the meeting on behalf of an unnamed client who specializes in cybersecurity.
“Moreover, internal billing records Mr. Durham is said to have obtained from Perkins Coie are said to show that when Mr. Sussmann logged certain hours as working on the Alfa Bank matter — though not the meeting with Mr. Baker — he billed the time to Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign,” the report continued. “In their attempt to head off any indictment, Mr. Sussmann’s lawyers are said to have insisted that their client was representing the cybersecurity expert he mentioned to Congress and was not there on behalf of or at the direction of the Clinton campaign. They are also said to have argued that the billing records are misleading because Mr. Sussmann was not charging his client for work on the Alfa Bank matter, but needed to show internally that he was working on something. He was discussing the matter with Mr. Elias and the campaign paid a flat monthly retainer to the firm, so Mr. Sussmann’s hours did not result in any additional charges, they said.”
Durham will have to indict Sussmann in the coming days before the statute of limitation expires. According to The Daily Wire, Sussmann’s lawyers told The New York Times they expect their client to be indicted and claim that he is innocent.
