The Michael Sussmann Indictment

No surprise: Trump/Russia was a Hillary Clinton operation all along.

Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussman, who represented and worked on behalf of the DNC, the Hillary Clinton campaign, and Fusion GPS, has been indicted for giving false statements to FBI General Counsel James Baker. Read the full indictment here.

This relates to the Baker/Sussmann meeting on September 16, 2016, in which Sussmann conveyed the false information put together by himself, Fusion GPS, and others - including one unnamed powerful tech executive - that there were improper contacts between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.

The allegation from the indictment:

“Sussman’s statement to the FBI General Counsel that he was not acting on behalf of any client was knowingly and intentionally false. In truth and in fact, and as SUSSMAN well knew, SUSSMANN acted on behalf of and in coordination with two specific clients of [Perkins Coie], Tech Executive-1 and the Clinton Campaign, in assembling and conveying these allegations.”

Durham details why the lie was material:

The indictment also describes Sussmann’s public relations operation. Prior to the meeting with the FBI, Sussmann was providing details of the Trump/Alfa Bank allegations to reporters and updating the Clinton campaign of his work. After the meeting with the FBI, Sussmann was practically begging reporters to push the Trump/Alfa Bank story. All this while he was billing the Clinton campaign.

Importantly, Sussmann would repeat his false claim to “another government agency” in February 2017.

The indictment notes communications within the group that “researched” and helped create the Alfa Bank allegations. The highlights are damning.

They wanted to please the “VIPs” (the Hillary Clinton campaign):

“Tech Executive-1” (an executive at an internet company)- a client of Sussmann’s who helped obtain the data underlying the Alfa Bank claims - was “tentatively offered the top [cybersecurity] job by the Democrats when it looked like they’d win.”

There were discussions of “faking” sales forms on the companies’ websites to make them “to appear to communicate with each other.”

They knew the Trump/Alfa Bank allegations were false and expressed concerns that they would have to “expose every trick we have in our bag.”

Finally, here is the false statement charge: