Judge Rules Case Against Former Clinton Campaign Lawyer Will Proceed
The case against a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during a 2016 meeting surrounding alleged links between the Trump organization and Russia will be allowed to proceed, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Michael Sussmann, a Democratic lawyer with ties to Clinton’s 2016 campaign, was charged last year by special counsel John Durham. Sussmann filed a motion to dismiss the case in February. A subsequent filing from Durham called the motion to dismiss “absurd.”
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, in Wednesday’s court filing, outlined the charges Sussmann is facing and ultimately ruled that he failed to offer “legal authority” proving he did not give a materially false statement.
“While Sussmann is correct that certain statements might be so peripheral or unimportant to a relevant agency decision or function to be immaterial under § 1001 as matter of law, the Court is unable to make that determination as to this alleged statement before hearing the government’s evidence. Any such decision must therefore wait until trial,” Cooper ruled.
U.S. Attorney John Durham (Youtube screen capture/Fox News)
Durham has accused Sussmann of lying “about the capacity in which he was providing” his accusations made to the FBI, Business Insider reported. Sussmann claimed the Trump organization and a Russian bank had a “secret communications channel,” and the indictment accuses Sussmann of lying to the FBI regarding whom he was working for, the news agency added.
Records of Sussmann’s billing history show he “repeatedly” charged the Clinton Campaign for work regarding the “Russian Bank-1” allegations, according to Durham. (RELATED: ‘As Wrong As It Gets’: Rep. Jim Jordan Calls Out Liberal Media And Democrats For Denying That Trump Was Spied On)
Durham also alleges that Sussmann met with the CIA in 2017 and offered up computer data that purportedly sought to link Trump and Russia. The data, which hasn’t been backed up by evidence according to the prosecutor, was allegedly obtained by a tech executive who “exploited his arrangement … for the purpose of gathering derogatory information” about Trump, Durham said.
With Cooper’s ruling, the trial against Sussmann is slated to begin on May 16, according to Fox News.
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