The defendant lied in that meeting, falsely stating to the General Counsel that he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client. In fact, the defendant had assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two specific clients; a technology executive at a U.S.-based Internet company and the Clinton Campaign.
John Durham court filing on Monday
Multiple outlets report John Durham has produced the “smoking gun” in his case against the “conspiracy” to ruin Donald Trump’s campaign and undermine his presidency. The so-called smoking gun is a text message proving a Clinton campaign lawyer, Michael Sussmann, lied to FBI General Counsel James Baker (read below):
Jim – it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company – want to help the Bureau. Thanks.
Monday’s court filing alleged (for the first time) the Clinton campaign and others formed a “joint venture or conspiracy” for the purpose of pushing the collusion story to harm Trump’s campaign and presidency. The ”conspiracy” was outlined by former House Intelligence Committee counsel Kash Patel on Tuesday: “Hard evidence, emails and text messages, show the Clinton Campaign, Fusion GPS, Perkins Coie, Joffe, and the media were all pushing the false Alfa Bank server story, while also all working on the Steele Dossier matter.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stated the big picture: “People went to jail for Watergate, and people need to go to jail for this if these allegations are true.” This could prove Trump was right about “crooked” Hillary Clinton and explain his “unpresidential” behavior. Imagine the stress of knowing a palace plot was in motion to force you from office. Trump knew, so maybe the following tweet (March 2017) was a cry for help:
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
Don’t laugh, because the evidence of a “conspiracy” has been slowly mounting for 22 months. If Hillary Clinton can paint by numbers, she’s probably not sleeping well.
One. Sussmann’s lawyers don’t want want British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier brought up at the trial, because it is now discredited and was funded by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the general counsel for the Clinton campaign.
Two. Sussmann billed the Clinton campaign for the meeting and admitted in House testimony that he “made the FBI approach at the instruction of his client.”
Three. Sussmann testified before Congress that he met Steele so that he could “vet” the former British spy for the Clinton Campaign.
Four. Steele testified under oath in the UK that Sussmann met him and Fusion GPS in Perkins Coie’s offices, and Sussmann told him (Steele) then about the Alfa Bank allegations.
Five. Sussmann’s text message (“coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company”) is not true, but did serve to make his anti-Trump research credible.
Six. Rodney Joffe did spy on Trump and the data was “highly manipulated” to imply a link between Alfa Bank and the Tump organization. Turns out it was just spam.
So far, Durham has charged three people, including Sussmann, for lying to or for the FBI. Not a big deal, right? But check out Durham’s theory of the case, laid out Monday in his own words, with [real names] revealed:
As an initial matter, the Government expects that the evidence at trial will show that beginning in late July/early August 2016, the defendant, [Rodney Joffe] and agents of the Clinton Campaign were ‘acting in concert toward a common goal’ of assembling and disseminating the [Alfa Bank] allegations and other derogatory information about Trump and his associates to the media and the U.S. government.
The evidence of a joint venture or conspiracy will establish that in November 2016, soon after the Presidential election, [Joffe] emailed a colleague, stating, “I was tentatively offered the top [cybersecurity] job by the Democrats when it looked like they’d win.”
In sum, the above evidence, public information, and expected testimony clearly establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that [Sussmann] and [Joffe] worked in concert with each other and with agents of the Clinton Campaign to research and disseminate the [Alfa Bank] allegations.
I keep a simple T-chart on this (good news for Clinton on the left – bad news for Clinton on the right). Suffice it to add NO good news for the Clinton campaign has popped up.