Durham Probe: Data Alleging Trump-Russia Plot 'Fabricated' & Part of 'Conspiracy', Scholars Say
© AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin
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In his recent motion, Special Counsel John Durham cited the CIA as saying that the data pertaining to the alleged Trump-Russia coordination and provided to the agency by Hillary Clinton campaign-aligned lawyer Michael Sussmann was "user-created" which has prompted suspicions that the lawyer promoted fabricated material on behalf of the campaign.
"This is the final nail in the coffin for the premise that Sussmann met with the feds to present them with the falsified digital data merely on his own accord as a 'good citizen' and not on behalf of his clients in the Clinton campaign," says American independent journalist Max Parry. "Still, we have yet to see any charges against Hillary's campaign itself even though Durham has hinted it likely masterminded the Trump-Russia smears, which more and more evidence that comes out indicates."
Special Counsel Durham on 16 September 2021 charged Michael Sussmann, a former Perkins Coie lawyer, with lying to the FBI. Sussmann told the bureau in September 2016 that he'd carried out research concerning supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organisation and Russia's Alfa Bank on his own. However, according to the special counsel, the Perkins Coie lawyer "assembled and conveyed the allegations" on behalf of the 2016 Clinton campaign.
The latest court filing indicates that Sussmann in February 2017 provided an "updated set of allegations," including the Alfa Bank and YotaPhone claims related to Donald Trump to the CIA. Having analysed the materials the intelligence agency concluded that the data was not "technically plausible" and was "user created and not machine/tool generated".
"The agency themselves even determined the data former DNC lawyer Michael Sussmann provided to them was unreliable as early as January 2017," says Parry. "Yet despite these findings ruling out Sussmann's slanders of supposed coordination between Trump and the Moscow-based Alfa Bank, the collusion probe continued and this information was suppressed."
Alleged Data Fabrication
Sussmann's data appears to be "pure fabrication," according to former CIA analyst Larry Johnson: "Engaging in real crime to try to fabricate the appearance of a crime."
The presumption that the research conducted by Sussmann was aimed at fabricating evidence to smear the then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was first voiced by an American lawyer known by his nom de plume Techno Fog in September 2022. The lawyer referred to Durham's lengthy Sussmann indictment that contained exchanges within the researching group.
Thus, one of the researchers wrote: "Let[']s for a moment think of the best case scenario, where we are able to show (somehow) that DNS communication exists between Trump and R[ussia]. How do we plan to defend against the criticism that this is not spoofed traffic we are observing. There is no answer to that."
Another one went even so far as to suggest that to link the Trump Organisation to Alfa Bank one could "'fill out a sales form on two websites, faking the other company’s email address in each form,' and thereby cause them 'to appear to communicate with each other in DNS'." The group's head named "Tech Executive-1" in the court documents and identified by The Epoch Times and CNN as Rodney Joffe pushed ahead with the research no matter what. The tech executive also bragged that he was offered a position in Hillary Clinton's administration in the event of her victory.
"Durham is doing what a professional prosecutor is supposed to do – start at the bottom and work your way to the top," says Johnson. "Sussmann is merely one rung on the ladder that Durham is climbing. What remains to be seen is whether Sussmann flips. He was not doing this on his own. People at the top of Hillary’s campaign were directing this effort and enlisted the help of CIA Director [John] Brennan and FBI Director [James] Comey."
The question arises as to who could be behind the alleged fabrication. According to the former CIA analyst, "at a minimum, John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign director," could have been aware of the matter.
Durham's motion clearly states that "the central issue in dispute in this case is… whether [Sussmann] was acting on behalf of the Clinton Campaign when he assembled and conveyed Russia Bank-1 [Alfa Bank] allegations."
Larry Johnson does not rule out that if the court proves that Sussmann did act on the Clinton Campaign's behalf, heads of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden could roll, since the three were likely aware of the alleged plot to smear Trump.
According to CIA Director John Brennan handwritten memo, he personally briefed Obama about Hillary Clinton's alleged plan to vilify Trump as a "Russian agent" in order to divert the public from her "emailgate" scandal.
17 February 2022, 13:03 GMT
'Seditious Conspiracy'?
"This news in the court filing should cement the understanding that there was no valid predicate to open and sustain the wholly discredited [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller investigation into Trump and his associates, and that many senior level government officials conspired against Trump and then conspired to cover up patently illegal acts," says Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel.
Apparently therefore, Sussmann and Joffe continued to collect information on Donald Trump and disseminate Alfa-Bank and YotaPhone stories even after the 2016 elections, according to the analyst.
Ortel highlighted that Durham's previous motions indicated close ties between Sussmann, Tech Executive-1/Joffe and Clinton campaign operatives. In February 2022, the special counsel dropped a bombshell that Tech Executive-1/Joffe and his associates particularly exploited internet data from "the Executive Office of the President of the United States" (EOP) to damage Trump when he was a sitting president. Back in February 2022, the Wall Street analyst presumed that what Sussmann, Joffe and Clinton operatives' conduct had certain earmarks of a "seditious conspiracy".
"Very few political pros believed that Donald Trump could actually win the 2016 election," says Ortel. "Immediately after his victory, these same pro-populated media shows hawking lunatic theories about Trump that are truly amazing to watch today, with some hindsight. In Washington, DC and in a relatively small number of corporate, financial, media and academic offices, members of a self-selected, supposedly elite class hold the mass of voters in complete contempt."
