https://sputnikglobe.com/20220520/ex-clinton-campaign-lawyer-in-heap-of-trouble-as-former-fbi-officials-testimony-exposes-lie-1095666880.html
Ex-Clinton Campaign Lawyer in Heap of Trouble as Former FBI Official's Testimony Exposes Lie
Ex-Clinton Campaign Lawyer in Heap of Trouble as Former FBI Official's Testimony Exposes Lie
Sputnik International
Ex-FBI General Counsel James Baker is 100 percent confident that former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann told him that he was not acting on behalf of any... 20.05.2022, Sputnik International
2022-05-20T14:34+0000
2022-05-20T14:34+0000
2022-05-20T14:34+0000
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hillary clinton
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us department of justice
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john durham
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"I believe he said, 'I'm not here on behalf of any particular client'… I'm 100 hundred percent confident he said that in the meeting", James Baker told the court on 19 May, describing his 19 September 2016 meeting with Michael Sussmann. "I think it was pretty close to the beginning of the meeting. Part of his introduction to the meeting".Sussmann was charged by Special Counsel John Durham on 16 September 2021 with lying to the FBI. The former Clinton campaign lawyer told the bureau in September 2016 that he had carried out research concerning supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organisation and Russia's Alfa Bank on his own. However, the special counsel argued that Sussmann "assembled and conveyed the allegations" on behalf of the 2016 Clinton campaign and Tech Executive-1, who was identified in the US press as Rodney Joffe. Later, the FBI shredded the Trump-Alfa Bank story as unsubstantiated.Baker’s account directly supports Durham's indictment. Sussmann’s lawyers previously denied that their client had told the then-FBI general counsel he had not been acting on anyone's behalf:"The Special Counsel has brought a false statement charge on the basis of a purported oral statement made over five years ago for which there is only a single witness, Mr. Baker; for which there is no recording; and for which there are no contemporaneous notes by anyone who was actually in the meeting", Sussmann’s attorneys argued last year. Following the September 2021 indictment, their client pleaded not guilty and said he had committed no wrongdoing.Defence lawyer Sean Berkowitz tried to cast doubt on Baker's testimony once again on 19 May: “It’s hard to remember events of a long time ago, isn’t it?” asked Berkowitz. “It depends on what you are talking about”, Baker replied.However, there is additional evidence in play to support Durham's allegations. Following the 19 September 2016 meeting, Baker briefed Bill Priestap, then-assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, about Sussmann's Alfa Bank story.Previously, the special counsel produced notes which were taken by then-Assistant FBI Director Bill Priestap and former FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson during their conversation with Baker immediately after his 19 September 2016 meeting with the Perkins Coie partner. Both notes say that Sussmann made it clear that he was "not doing this [research] for any client".According to the former FBI general counsel, he probably wouldn’t have agreed to meet with Sussmann if he knew that the latter was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Baker explained that it would have raised questions about the credibility of the source and the veracity of the info. Furthermore, he noted that the Hillary Clinton campaign's involvement in the matter would prompt concerns that the bureau was "going to be played or pulled into the politics". Baker pointed out that the fact that Hillary had been probed by the FBI over her use of an unsecured private email server for governmental business would also have played a factor in his decision.Baker also told the court that Sussmann had sent him a text message the night before their meeting which said that the Perkins Coie lawyer would be coming on his own — "not on behalf of a client or company" — because he wanted to help the bureau. This message was presented by Special Counsel Durham in his court filing in early April 2022. The cross-examination of Baker was scheduled to continue on 20 May.The Sussmann case is part of Special Counsel John Durham's broader probe into the FBI and the Department of Justice's (DoJ) investigation of the Donald Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. After Special Counsel Robert Mueller came to the conclusion in 2019 that there is no evidence to back the "Trump-Russia" collusion narrative, then-Attorney General William Barr suggested that the Trump-Russia probe did not have proper grounds and tapped John Durham to "investigate the investigators" in April 2019. In October 2020, Durham was appointed special counsel for the DoJ on the matter.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20220420/durham-probe-data-alleging-trump-russia-plot-fabricated--part-of-conspiracy-scholars-say-1094915414.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20220519/ex-fbi-general-counsel-says-bureau-found-no-evidence-of-link-between-trump-russian-bank-1095645968.html
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us, hillary clinton, donald trump, investigation, us department of justice, fbi, trial, john durham
Ex-Clinton Campaign Lawyer in Heap of Trouble as Former FBI Official's Testimony Exposes Lie
Ex-FBI General Counsel James Baker is 100 percent confident that former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann told him that he was not acting on behalf of any client, which means that the ex-Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer has wound up in hot water.
"I believe he said, 'I'm not here on behalf of any particular client'… I'm 100 hundred percent confident he said that in the meeting", James Baker told the court on 19 May, describing his 19 September 2016 meeting with Michael Sussmann. "I think it was pretty close to the beginning of the meeting. Part of his introduction to the meeting".
Sussmann was charged by Special Counsel John Durham on 16 September 2021 with lying to the FBI. The former Clinton campaign lawyer told the bureau in September 2016 that he had carried out research concerning supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organisation and Russia's Alfa Bank on his own. However, the special counsel argued that Sussmann "assembled and conveyed the allegations" on behalf of the 2016 Clinton campaign and Tech Executive-1, who was identified in the US press as Rodney Joffe. Later, the FBI shredded the Trump-Alfa Bank story as unsubstantiated.
Baker’s account directly supports Durham's indictment. Sussmann’s lawyers previously denied that their client had told the then-FBI general counsel he had not been acting on anyone's behalf:
"The Special Counsel has brought a false statement charge on the basis of a purported oral statement made over five years ago for which there is only a single witness, Mr. Baker; for which there is no recording; and for which there are no contemporaneous notes by anyone who was actually in the meeting", Sussmann’s attorneys
argued last year. Following the September 2021 indictment, their client pleaded not guilty and said he had committed no wrongdoing.
Defence lawyer Sean Berkowitz tried to cast doubt on Baker's testimony once again on 19 May: “It’s hard to remember events of a long time ago, isn’t it?” asked Berkowitz. “It depends on what you are talking about”, Baker replied.
However, there is additional evidence in play to support Durham's allegations. Following the 19 September 2016 meeting, Baker briefed Bill Priestap, then-assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, about Sussmann's Alfa Bank story.
"I repeated to Mr. Priestap that Michael had said that he was not there on behalf of any particular client, that he was there as a citizen, as a – essentially as a human source of information, confidential human source. That's kind of how I thought about him", Baker told the court.
Previously, the special counsel produced notes which were taken by then-Assistant FBI Director Bill Priestap and former FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson during their conversation with Baker immediately after his 19 September 2016 meeting with the Perkins Coie partner. Both notes say that Sussmann made it clear that
he was "not doing this [research] for any client".
According to the former FBI general counsel, he probably wouldn’t have agreed to meet with Sussmann if he knew that the latter was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Baker explained that it would have raised questions about the credibility of the source and the veracity of the info.
Furthermore, he noted that the Hillary Clinton campaign's involvement in the matter would prompt concerns that the bureau was "going to be played or pulled into the politics". Baker pointed out that the fact that Hillary had been probed by the FBI over her use of an unsecured private email server for governmental business would also have played a factor in his decision.
Baker also told the court that
Sussmann had sent him a text message the night before their meeting which said that the Perkins Coie lawyer would be coming on his own — "not on behalf of a client or company" — because he wanted to help the bureau. This message was presented by Special Counsel Durham in his court filing in early April 2022. The cross-examination of Baker was scheduled to continue on 20 May.
The Sussmann case is part of Special Counsel John Durham's broader probe into the FBI and the Department of Justice's (DoJ) investigation of the Donald Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. After Special Counsel Robert Mueller came to the conclusion in 2019 that there is no evidence to back the "Trump-Russia" collusion narrative, then-Attorney General William Barr suggested that the Trump-Russia probe did not have proper grounds and tapped John Durham to "investigate the investigators" in April 2019. In October 2020, Durham was appointed special counsel for the DoJ on the matter.
