Donald Trump appeared to hint at a 2024 presidential run as he pledged to “fight even harder” in response to Tuesday’s acquittal of a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Michael Sussmann, formerly a federal prosecutor and partner at legal firm Perkins Coie, was acquitted on 31 May of the single charge of lying to federal investigators when he claimed he wasn’t “acting on behalf of any client” when he attempted to sow the “Russiagate” hoax in the 2016 election.
When asked if the jury’s verdict impacted his own future political plans, Trump told Fox News Digital:
“If anything, it makes me want to fight even harder… If we don’t win, our country is ruined. We have bad borders, bad elections and a court system not functioning properly”.
The 45th POTUS continued:
“They spied on my campaign. They got caught. If a Republican would have done that, and the obvious steps forward, it would be a virtual death penalty".
Trump underscored the fact that key allegations of “collusion with Russia”, spread throughout the 2016 election and into his presidency, originated with individuals linked to Hillary Clinton. He denounced the failure of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors to report those connections as part of their years-long probe.
"They had blinders on—they were only looking in one direction. No matter how far they turned, and saw all of these crimes, they wouldn’t go there".
The former president added: "Mueller and everybody else knew what was going on, and they didn’t do anything about it".
After a span of almost two years, Mueller’s investigation failed to yield any evidence of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.
However, during the trial of Michael Sussmann - the first stemming from Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into the origins of the Russiagate investigation - Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook’s testimony resulted in bombshell revelations.
According to Mook, the then-Democratic presidential candidate herself approved the dissemination of subsequently debunked information on Trump-Russia “collusion” to the media. The false theory alleged the existence of a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.
John Durham prosecuted Michael Sussmann as part of the probe into the legality of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry into allegations of former President Donald Trump's ties with Russia, which turned out to be unsubstantiated.
However, on Tuesday a jury found Sussmann not guilty in what is viewed as a setback for Durham.
Weighing in on Hillary Clinton’s actions, laid bare by the Durham probe, Trump stated:
"This was totally illegal. What they did was treason, and it also put our country in a lot of danger with Russia… I think she should be ashamed of herself… and so should [Adam] Schiff and all these corrupt politicians", Trump told Fox News Digital.