Michael Sussmann found not guilty of lying to FBI in Durham investigation | CNN Politics
By: Marshall Cohen (CNN)
The so-called Durham investigation is a failure. For the many reactionaries who have been waiting with baited breaths for Sussman to be convicted, your dream is over.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Michael Sussmann Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP CNN —
Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann was acquitted Tuesday of lying to the FBI, in the first trial of special counsel John Durham's investigation.
The verdict is a major defeat for Durham and his Justice Department prosecutors, who have spent three years looking for wrongdoing in the Trump-Russia probe. He claimed Sussmann lied during a 2016 meeting in which he passed a tip to the FBI about Donald Trump and Russia.
The Washington, DC, federal jury deliberated for six hours over two days before reaching its verdict.
The Sussmann case revolved around his September 2016 meeting with James Baker, a friend who was the FBI's general counsel. Sussmann passed along a tip that led to a four-month FBI inquiry into a possible internet backchannel between the Trump Organization and Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank. Both companies denied the claim, and the FBI didn't find any improper cyber links.
Prosecutors argued that Sussmann intentionally lied to Baker by saying he came only as a concerned citizen, and not on behalf of any clients, saying Sussmann hid his ties to Democrats to "manipulate the FBI" and gin up an "October surprise" to help Clinton win.
In Sussmann's telling, at the peak of Russia's attack on the 2016 election, he went to the FBI with a good-faith tip, which originated from reputable cyber experts that he represented. He separately worked on Clinton's behalf to peddle that unverified tip to the press, generating some coverage. He didn't try to dupe Baker or hide his political ties, which were well-known at the FBI.
Durham investigation takes a hit
So far, Durham's work has only led to one conviction: the guilty plea of a junior FBI lawyer who was involved in a wiretapping warrant for a former Trump 2016 campaign adviser. Durham also charged a Russian expat tied to the infamous Steele dossier, whose trial is slated for October.
The Sussmann case was the first major courtroom test for Durham, and the acquittal may bolster Durham's critics, who believe he's running a politicized probe into flimsy theories.
Trump has treated Durham's probe as a political weapon, stoking excitement in the right-wing ecosystem that Durham will deliver Watergate-caliber indictments against Clinton loyalists and the "deep state" government agents who supposedly conspired against him. He has even suggested that Sussmann's and other Democrats' conduct should be "punishable by death."
Durham's efforts to "investigate the investigators" are ongoing, and have outlasted the Russia probe itself, which was taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller and convicted six Trump associates, including his lawyer, his 2016 campaign chair, and a senior White House official.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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Nothing there.
Cole slaw on the side?
The only there-there, dwells in Mar-a-Lago.
Durham should slink away and take his place as a footnote to history. This was his big "get".
It was his big "get lost".
The ham sandwich apparently won by not testifying in it's own defense.
There was no 'ham sandwich'.
Durham thinks that prosecuting Igor Danchenko, a Russian national,
for the same charge of lying to the FBI will be more successful in VA
because he thinks no one is going to feel any sympathy for the Russian.
We shall see in October.
I bet the jury kinda saw it as I did. Durham throwing a bunch of shit into the case that really had nothing to do with it.
Proof that a grand jury can be lulled into indicting a ham sandwich.
This jury would not bite.
There are murmurs coming from the right-wing that Durham's focus should now center on the jury.
Very strange. It seems that Trump must be protected at all costs. Why would that be? Dirty money? Russian/Saudi?
Durham's focus now should be on closing up his office and ending the charade.
Durham's new avatar.
I'll be looking forward to a certain NTer changing his avatar to that bottom picture...
You know he won't. Durham is his hero