Michael Sussmann has been acquitted
Michael Sussmann has been acquitted
DC Jury and DC Verdicts
Michael Sussmann has been acquitted.
The acquittal is no surprise. This is a DC jury, after all. In the Roger Stone case, for example, we documented how a juror lied to get on the panel. (That judge didn’t care.) Making matters worse, the Sussmann judge wrongly allowed for a woman to remain on the jury, despite the fact that her daughter and Sussmann’s are on the same high school crew team. One can’t help but think that juror had her own daughter’s interests in mind – the cohesion of the crew team, sparing her of teenage drama, etc. – when she reached a decision.
After the verdict was announced, the jury’s forewoman held court before the media and expressed her displeasure that the Special Counsel prosecute a false statement case: “There are bigger things that affect the nation than a possible lie to the FBI.”
This juror was never impartial - despite her assurance to the judge.
On the facts, the evidence was more than sufficient to prove Sussmann’s guilt. Sussmann lied to then-FBI general counsel James Baker via text message in order to get a meeting to pass the Alfa Bank hoax materials to the FBI.
Sussmann lied again during the meeting – stating he was not there on behalf of a client – in order to get the FBI to open an investigation into the Trump Organization’s purported ties with Alfa Bank.
Later, during testimony to Congress, Sussmann admitted he met with Baker on behalf of a client.
Billing records proved he had been working on the Alfa Bank project on behalf of the Clinton Campaign. Evidence also demonstrated that Sussmann billed the Clinton Campaign for the thumb drives passed to Baker during the meeting. How was the Clinton Campaign billed? Sussmann referenced the “confidential project” - the Alfa Bank project.
I won’t say the verdict doesn’t matter. Of course it matters. It would have proven that a DC jury can convict one of their own. It would have resulted in accountability for lying to the FBI. Not the gravest of crimes, but it is still a crime.
In large part, the prosecution of Sussmann was hamstrung by the FBI’s investigation into the Alfa Bank allegations. That goes to materiality. How can the lies be material if the FBI’s investigation was so sloppy?
That was always an unconvincing defense, as Sussmann’s lies helped trigger the FBI’s investigation into the Trump/Alfa hoax. How does Sussmann convince the skeptical New York Times to take another look at the Alfa Bank story? By showing them that the FBI is investigating the matter. How can Sussmann convince the FBI to start the Alfa Bank investigation as soon as possible? By orchestrating leaks of the information to the press.
Continuing on the issue of materiality, look to the testimony of FBI Special Agent Curtis Heide, whose repeated requests to interview the source of the Alfa Bank information were denied by headquarters. FBI Headquarters didn’t want this thing thoroughly vetted - even though they demanded the investigation be opened. As we stated during the trial:
Relatively early on in the investigation - on September 26, 2016 - Agent Heide sent a message to Pientka, requesting an interview of the source of the Alfa Bank white papers. By that time, Heide knew the white paper was bunk. He received no response from Pientka. He repeated this request on October 3, 2016. Agent Heide’s requests were rebuffed by his liaison at FBI headquarters
That’s not the say the public hasn’t benefited from the trial. The information disclosed during the trial was important to understand the broader Clinton/Fusion GPS/Perkins Coie effort to poison the public, the press, and the FBI with their Trump/Russia lies. This included:
Data from the Executive Office of the President of the United States, including data from the Trumansition period, was exploited by Sussmann and Rodney Joffe and then passed to the CIA.
Rodney Joffe was a longtime Confidential Human Source (CHS) – and generally a resource – for the FBI. Joffe worked with the FBI on cyber threats from countries like Russia. From former FBI Agent Grasso: “I’m sure the work that [Joffe] did touched on matters having to do with Russia.”
Joffe went to great lengths to make sure the Alfa Bank information he provided to the FBI did not go through his official FBI handler.
The decision to open the investigation came from FBI Leadership. According to one FBI Agent, “People on the 7th floor to include Director are fired up about this server.”
Perkins Coie partner Marc Elias provided updates on the Fusion GPS “research” to the Clinton Campaign.
After reviewing the evidence, the FBI leaned “towards this being a false server not attributed to the trump organization.”
An unbelievable confirmation of the shoddy FBI investigation into the Russian “hacking” of our election. As of October 13, 2016, the FBI did not have the Crowdstrike images relating to the purported DNC/DCCC hack. Message from FBI agent via their internal messaging system: “really, I just want images of what crowdstrike has.”
And - Hillary Clinton herself approved of the strategy to disseminate the Alfa Bank allegations to the media. Per Robby Mook:
Q: Mr. Mook, before the break you had testified that there was a conversation in which you told Ms. Clinton about the proposed plan to provide the Alfa-Bank allegations to the media; is that correct?
A: Correct.
Q: And what was her response?
A: All I remember is that she agreed with the decision.
Then there are the trial exhibits, which The Epoch Times has posted here. As Aaron Maté observed, Sussmann edited an FBI press release on the DNC hacking because the FBI’s proposed statement “undermines” the DNC hacking narrative:
Where does Durham go from here? That’s the real question.
Igor Danchenko (Steele’s “primary subsource”) faces trial later this year. While that case involves Danchenko’s lies to the FBI, it also touches upon the FBI’s lies to the FISA Court. As we reported, evidence indicates that the FBI knew one of Danchenko’s “sources” was Clinton ally Charles Dolan. The evidence further suggests that the FBI knew Danchenko lied about his contacts with Dolan. Yet the FBI informed the FISA Court in July 2018 that the FBI found Danchenko “to be truthful and cooperative.”
Then there is Rodney Joffe. The Special Counsel’s investigation into Joffe remains open. Just last month, the Special Counsel informed the Court that Joffe is being looked at closely for violation of 18 USC 1031, “which involves defrauding the government in connection with procurement and contract matters.” (Then there’s the potential issue of the mishandling of classified data.)
Hillary for America (the Clinton Campaign), as well as multiple former employees of the Clinton Campaign, are subject to “matters before the Special Counsel.” Whether that is limited to the Danchenko and Sussmann cases remains - and whether that includes any criminal exposure - is unknown.
The unknowns don’t stop there. What about those FBI agents and officials involved in the Trump/Russia investigation and FISA applications/renewals?
The media would rather not see those questions answered. Since today’s acquittal, they’ve all but declared Durham’s investigation dead, with Russiagate believers in the Washington Post minimizing Danchenko’s lies and Jonathan Chait - who thinks Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987 - still clinging to the possibility that the Trump/Alfa links were legitimate back channel communications.
As for us? We’ll wait and see.
Will it actually matter anymore if the trials are in places like DC? Justice will never be found there.
I predicted this all along, the jury was tainted and biased. As always America loses once again, another taxpayer waste. Hillary and her mob will never be held accountable. Justice is no longer blind it is ruled by political affiliations.