After much speculation, the Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI will not testify in Special Counsel John Durham’s case against him. Michael Sussmann, who previously worked for Perkins Coie, is on trial for lying to the FBI about whom he was representing when, in September 2016, he presented internet data that claimed a now-discredited link between former President Donald Trump and Russia’s Alfa-Bank.
The Washington Examiner reports:
In particular, Sussmann was indicted on charges of allegedly concealing his clients, Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Executive-1,” known to be former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe, from FBI General Counsel James Baker when he pushed the since-debunked allegations of a secret Trump-Russia back channel.
After much speculation during the nearly two-week trial, the judge revealed that Sussmann would not be testifying after all.
“I understand from counsel that the defense will not be calling Mr. Sussmann, is that correct?” Judge Christopher Cooper asked Thursday morning.
Sussmann’s lawyer confirmed that was correct.
The judge asked Sussmann if he had spoken and consulted with his defense team when making the decision not to take the stand, and he replied, “I have, Your Honor.” And the judge asked if he had nevertheless chosen not to testify.
Sussmann then affirmed that he had consulted with his legal team.
The development comes after FBI General Counsel James Baker testified last week that he was “100% confident” that Sussmann was not there on behalf of a client.
“Michael started to explain why he was there. He said he was not appearing before me on behalf of any particular client. In essence, in the meeting, he said, ‘I’m not here on behalf of any particular client.’ … I’m 100% confident that he said that in the meeting,” Baker said from the witness stand last Thursday.
Durham’s team presented evidence this week suggesting Sussmann billed Clinton’s campaign for the thumb drives he used to push now-discredited Trump-Russia claims.
