Despite the failure of special counsel John Durham to score a conviction in his first prosecution related to the now-discredited allegations of a conspiracy connecting Russia and the 2016 campaign of former President Donald Trump, one Republican congressman said a ray of truth shone through.
Michael Sussmann, a former campaign lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s Democratic 2016 campaign, was acquitted Tuesday on a charge of lying to the FBI.
Sussmann had been accused of lying to James Baker, the general counsel of the FBI, in a 2016 meeting where he sought FBI investigation of Trump’s supposed ties to Russia, according to The Washington Post.
The case against Sussmann sought to prove he lied by telling Baker that he wasn’t representing any client at the time — while he was actually representing Clinton.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said the trial had a massive development, with significance far beyond the charges at hand, according to Fox News.
“The big takeaway here was what we learned a few days back when we learned that Secretary Clinton told Sussmann to take false information to the press that was also then taken to the FBI,” he said.
“Step back and think about this – this is the former secretary of state, this is the former first lady, this is the former United States senator from the state of New York, and candidate for one of the major parties for president of the United States. And she’s encouraging a false narrative to be taken to the press. And, of course, it was also taken to the FBI,” he said.
Special counsel John Durham, appointed by former president Donald Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr, has uncovered “seditious” actions in spinning a political “narrative” to harm Trump. https://t.co/cyTq1JL9g1
— Newsmax (@newsmax) May 31, 2022
“I think that is huge. And so much so, that the former attorney general called it seditious. And again, you don’t have to take my word for that. This is her campaign manager, Robby Mook, under oath in a court of law, making that statement. So that’s the big takeaway here,” he said.
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During the trial, Mook said Clinton approved sharing information linking Trump to Alfa Bank, according to Fox News.
Mook said campaign general counsel Marc Elias, who was a partner at law firm Perkins Coie, briefed Mook about the allegations, which raised questions within the campaign.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, senior policy advisor, Jake Sullivan — now President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser — and communications director Jennifer Palmieri were part of the team that discussed releasing the information.
“I discussed it with Hillary as well,” Mook said.
“I don’t remember the substance of the conversation, but notionally, the discussion was, hey, we have this and we want to share it with a reporter,” Mook said.
Mook was asked if Clinton approved “the dissemination” of the data to the news media.
“She agreed,” Mook said.
