BREAKING: Jury Clears Former Clinton Attorney Michael Sussmann Of Lying To FBI

A Washington, D.C., jury acquitted former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI on Tuesday in the first legal test of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy theory.

Sussmann was charged with lying to the FBI during a September 2016 meeting with former FBI general counsel James Baker. Sussmann pleaded not guilty to the charges, arguing that he never lied to the FBI, and even if he did, the lie did not impact the FBI’s operations at all.

Durham alleged in Sussmann’s charging documents that the cybersecurity attorney intentionally misrepresented himself to gain an audience with Baker. Sussmann told the then-FBI lawyer that he was coming to the bureau as a good citizen, when in reality Sussmann was passing shaky opposition research on behalf of his clients: the Clinton campaign and tech executive Rodney Joffe.

Sussmann gave Baker later debunked evidence of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. The FBI agents tasked with looking into the matter dismissed the data and Sussmann’s claims within a matter of days of investigating the probe.

Baker said during testimony that he is “100% confident” that Sussmann hid his clients during their September 19, 2016 meeting. Sussmann’s defense attorneys pointed out that Baker has made several conflicting statements about his recollection of the meeting before, however.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

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