September 16, 2021

"The case against [Michael] Sussmann centers on the question of who his client was when he conveyed certain suspicions about Mr. Trump and Russia to the F.B.I. in September 2016."

"Among other things, investigators have examined whether Mr. Sussmann was secretly working for the Clinton campaign — which he denies.... A spokesman for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who has the authority to overrule Mr. Durham but is said to have declined to, did not comment.... The accusation against Mr. Sussmann focuses on a meeting he had on Sept. 19, 2016, with James A. Baker, who was the F.B.I.’s top lawyer at the time... Because of a five-year statute of limitations for such cases, Mr. Durham has a deadline of this weekend to bring a charge over activity from that date.... Mr. Baker, the former F.B.I. lawyer, is said to have told investigators that he recalled Mr. Sussmann saying that he was not meeting him on behalf of any client. But in a deposition before Congress in 2017, Mr. Sussmann testified that he sought the meeting on behalf of an unnamed client who was a cybersecurity expert and had helped analyze the data. Moreover, internal billing records Mr. Durham is said to have obtained from Perkins Coie are said to show that when Mr. Sussmann logged certain hours as working on the Alfa Bank matter — though not the meeting with Mr. Baker — he billed the time to Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign."

42 comments:

Temujin said...

I see what's supposedly coming down here. But I have to ask, what takes these investigations so long that they have to last multiple years to get to the spot that some reporters were at 24 months ago?

Government moves at the pace of sludge in a world that is rocketing along. We have developed a vaccine (that doesn't work very well) for a virus no one had ever heard of in less time than it has taken John Durham to seek an indictment in his investigation.

Roger Sweeny said...

Time to start cleaning house. The testimony about how they reacted to the US gymnasts complaints about Larry Narrar's sexual abuse is maddening.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Lying about Trump and Russia? Perfectly fine. It's not a problem to lie about Trump and Russia. Those lies are for the greater good -> re-installing the corrupt insider mob(D)

Ignore Clinton foundation ties to big Russian money. and of course we shall ignore Biden family international pay-to-play grifting. Biden's son is a moral degenerate made wealthy off of hard working American money - washed clean by a corrupt machine and an FBI who are OK with it. so what?!!!!!

tim maguire said...

A five-year statute of limitations? That's what it finally takes to get Durham to show his cards and either move on his indictments or admit he hasn't any? Thank the founders for making sure justice is at least sort-of timely.

madAsHell said...

Who?

Readering said...

I guess Baker follows the Trump no-lawyers-taking-notes-rule for important meetings.

Achilles said...

They are just trying to pretend we don't notice the difference between how these corrupt evil shitheads treat themselves and how they treat their political opponents.

They are corrupt.

They are evil.

We see them.

mccullough said...

Why are The Fall Guys always lawyers?

Anonymous said...

The P-C lawyer I want hung out is Marc Elias:

“Podesta was asked in his September interview whether the Clinton campaign had a contractual agreement with Fusion GPS, and he said he was not aware of one, according to one of the sources. Sitting next to Podesta during the interview: his attorney Marc Elias, who worked for the law firm that hired Fusion GPS to continue research on Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC, multiple sources said. Elias was only there in his capacity as Podesta’s attorney and not as a witness.”
If this and the earlier report is true, Elias assisted in the denial any connection between the Clinton campaign and the dossier to two New York Times reporters but sat silently as Podesta gave false information to congressional investigators.
In the meantime, both high-ranking campaign officials and DNC officials have denied any knowledge or approval of the contract with Fusion GPS.

Ralph L said...

I hope Carter Page cleans out a few people, since no one will every go to jail for any of this.

Narayanan said...

come on ... give him a break.

and this took how many years?

Skeptical Voter said...

A cynical person might think that Durham was more than willing to let the time run out. If there is a five year statute of limitations, it's not going to be too long before Durham won't be able to prosecute 2016 pre election day dirty tricks.

And since those dirty tricks were on behalf of Clinton and her campaign, rather than good old Scranton Joe, AG Garland might be willing to let Durham proceed with these ankle biting indictments.

Sebastian said...

"investigators have examined whether Mr. Sussmann was secretly working for the Clinton campaign — which he denies"

Because it was and is obvious to everybody?

Drago said...

Readering: "I guess Baker follows the Trump no-lawyers-taking-notes-rule for important meetings."

Shorter readering: Donald Trump now personally responsible for actions taken by Clinton lawyers in 2016.

Next up for readering: Impeaching Trump for the $3.5 million handed to Hunter and The Big Guy by the wife of the Mayor of Moscow.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The FBI agents who interviewed Flynn didn't think he was lying/being intentionally deceptive, but a supervisor who read their notes (written much later) decided he was and should be indicted/prosecuted for that. Flynn's answers didn't make any difference to an investigation nor to public affairs generally. Everyone took Flynn's "wrongdoing" very seriously--his family was allegedly threatened with prosecution, he knuckled under and pleaded guilty, etc.

Sussman, a big shot lawyer, pretty clearly tried to deceive or obfuscate/obstruct when his/his client's scheme to use the DOJ to push political hits was being investigated. That scheme, by the way, was very successful and had a large affect on public affairs. Very few people are taking Sussman's wrong doing seriously. No one expects much of this alleged push for indictment, understanding that it's being discussed now since the statute of limitations is about to make all this moot.

This, folks, is the majesty of the rule of law at work. Equal justice!
You gotta laugh sometimes.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

A five-year statute of limitations on matters that can be deeply buried in a labyrinthine bureaucracy. That's your first problem right there.

Narr said...

I thought Durham's orders as well as his self-interest were to slow-walk the whole thing. Frankly I'm surprised that this has garnered any attention at all, but there's always infighting so perhaps I shouldn't be.

The Nassar story is interestingly timed, and indicative of the Organs' SOP. Instead of investigating the important political corruption and malfeasance that DC crawls with, an old juicy sex crime is dredged up and a kickline of weeping jockettes suck all the attention away from the things that matter.

Yancey Ward said...

The statutes of limitations matter, but they can be extended if Durham can show a continuing conspiracy beyond the concrete acts- for example, Sussman's testimony in 2017 can be used to demonstrate the conspiracy was active in 2017. There may be other acts in the conspiracy that can be shown to have occurred as late as last year.

Nothing is going to come of this- I have known this since they let the FBI/DoJ lawyer off with a slap on the wrist for outright lying to the FISA court to get the Carter Page warrant- he didn't even lose his fucking license to practice law. Had that lawyer been a Republican and Page a Democrat, that lawyer would be in federal prison right now, and everyone knows it, even if they will feel compelled to say otherwise because, "Yay, team!"

This story is really simple- the Clinton Campaign used the FBI to initiate an investigation into her political opponent in the 2016 election. I am quite sure that James Comey, James Baker and others knew this- they have all but admitted on paper (see the Carter Page warrants for the evidence along with the Horowitz Report on those warrants). I think James Baker is still lying- he knew Sussman was representing the Clintons- it was probably nod, nod, wink, wink between the two- "You pretend to not be working for the Clintons, and I will pretend not to know."

narciso said...

Perkins and coie, repatriated themselves to China, to avoid a civil suit,

Joe Smith said...

I followed every atom of this when Trump was POTUS...it was a flat-out coup attempt, and hundreds should have gone to jail.

But in reality only one or two people got a slap on the wrist.

If you don't believe there is a 'deep state' then you are a moron.

Joe Smith said...

'I thought Durham's orders as well as his self-interest were to slow-walk the whole thing.'

Those were clearly Barr's orders...

Mike Sylwester said...

In one of my own blog articles, I provided my own perspective on this situation.

During the year 2013, the FBI was investigating an international gambling ring that operated out of an apartment in Trump Tower. One person operating from that location was Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov (aka Tutakhanov). This person was of particular interest to James Comey, who became the FBI Director in that same year 2013.

A decade earlier, when Comey occupied a lower position, he personally had indicted this same Tokhakhounov for rigging the figure-skating contest, to benefit Russians, at the Olympic games in Salt Lake City.

So, it's remarkable that Comey appointment to become the FBI Director in 2013 coincided with a second indictment of Tokhakhounov.

I speculate that Comey was interested not so much in Tokhakhounov, but rather the Trump Tower element of this situation. Comey intended to develop evidence that Donald Trump himself was involved in international gambling. Keep in mind that Trump owned gambling casinos and owned the Miss Universe pageant. Perhaps Comey intended to pressure Tokhakhounov to snitch and testify against Trump.

In 2013 had made himself a pest about President Obama's birth certificate. I speculate that one major reason why Obama appointed Comey to FBI Director was an intention to cause legal and political trouble for Trump.

=======

For some reason, the FBI came to suspect that the Russia-based Alfa Bank was involved in the international gambling ring that operated from Trump Tower. The FBI investigation of Alfa Bank looked into computer communications among Alfa Bank, Trump Tower and various Trump businesses.

As it turned out, though, the FBI investigation of such communications did not produce any evidence that could be used against Trump.

Nevertheless (here I continue to speculate), someone in the FBI told some Trump-haters that something incriminating in the Alfa Bank communications still might be developed. For that reason, a group of Trump-hating computer experts analyzed Alfa Bank's communications and tried to use it against Trump during the 2016 election.

Also, Christopher Steele was informed that Alfa Bank was part of the Trump-Russia conspiracy, and so Steele's Dossier included insinuations about Alfa Bank.

=======

I speculate that Sussman was involved in this intrigue involving Alfa Bank, Trump Tower, Steele's Dossier, etc.

Sussman was trying to develop information that Russian Intelligence was using computer communications not only to promote the gambling ring in Trump Tower but also to hack Democrats' computers, to manipulate voting machines and generally to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election.

Howard said...

Lock him away and throw up the key

mikee said...

Every day Durham doesn't issue arrest warrants is still one day closer to the day when Hillary departs this earth for the afterlife, a statute of limitations whose application she will not enjoy.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Sussmann indicted.

Well, it's a start.

Durham has f'ed around far too long for him to get teh benefit of the doubt from me. But I'm willing to be convinced.

All he has to do is start going after gov't employees who broke the law, and put them in jail.

We expect that with corrupt cops. The same should be true for anyone at the DoJ

Mutaman said...

All the we that we taxpayers paid Durham over the years and this is what he comes up with?

Mutaman said...

"If you don't believe there is a 'deep state' then you are a moron."

Or maybe there was never anything there.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Howard said...
Lock him away and throw up the key

Apparently Howard wants to make sure he can't turn state's evidence against any Democrat politicians

Amadeus 48 said...

"He denies wrongdoing."

Well, then. It's over. They might as well drop it. He is obviously innocent of everything. Biden will give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He undoubtedly will become Bill Gates's personal lawyer at a million a year, and Bezos will hire him, too, just to keep him available. That Capitol cop, Michael Byrd, will sign on to provide security. Don't get too close to Mr. Sussman. Officer Byrd is ready to save countless lives with his trusty Glock named "Hrunting", which he will never leave in the men's room again.

rcocean said...

Hate to just restate others have said. Democrats in Trump-Russia have lied under oath, lied on the FISA applications, and changed Emails that were provided to the FISA court. They've either gotten slaps on the wrist, or no charges.

This is just failure theater. The whole purpose of the Durham investigation was to keep Trump from getting mad and declassifying things the FBI and Barr want to keep secret. First they strung Trump along and then in Oct 2020 Barr made Durham a special prosecutor. Anything Trump wanted to make public after that could be kept secret under the excuse that it was needed by the special prosecutor. Checkmate.

rcocean said...

The Liberal Establishment and MSM have made it clear that any unethical action or even crime - short of murder - was OK if it "GOT TRUMP".

And nobody seems much upset about it. So, you wonder how much of the outrage against Republican unethical/criminal behavior is also just Fake outrage.

PJ said...

The indictment makes interesting reading.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

How about a poll: who is Tech Executive 1, the other Sussmann client for his Alfa Bank / FBI work, according to the indictment?

Birches said...

What Temujin said.

This should have happened years ago.

In another 5 they'll figure out the election was stolen.

Original Mike said...

Blogger PJ said..."The indictment makes interesting reading."

Yes it does.

Sleaze balls.

Yancey Ward said...

IgisBliss,

Rodney Joffe. The internet company is Neustar. It is Joffe that put together the "evidence" that supported the concocted lie of the Alfa Bank connection. The indictment was absolutely solidly supported by all the evidence- Sussman etal. knew they were giving a false and fabricated story to the FBI through James Baker, and Sussman pretty clearly lied to Baker about who he was representing at the meeting with Baker- Sussman billed the Clinton Campaign for the time of the meeting. Now, I think Baker and Priestap are getting off easy- they clearly knew Sussman was lying to them, and I think they needed Sussman to tell that lie because it was the only way they could move forward with "clean hands".

Bruce Hayden said...

“This, folks, is the majesty of the rule of law at work. Equal justice!
You gotta laugh sometimes.”

When you aren’t crying.

Our federal justice system seems rotten to the core these days. The FBI/DOJ took out a President’s NSA in order to try to take him out, for political reasons. We have these agencies working with one party to destroy the other party’s nominee, and then they walk free, with their tax payer funded pensions mostly intact. If the standard of Obstruction of Justice (etc) applied against Flynn, etc, had been applied against the investigators and prosecutors, from Comey and Rosenstein down, they would all be serving time in federal prison. I would esp commend the LawFare (a truly evil group) allied Mueller prosecutors for this honor. Yet, the only one with even a slap on his hand was a low level FBI atty.

And because they got away with it, with impunity, we have their 1/6 investigation, where hundreds of people are languishing in federal jail, for months now, for the crime of showing up in DC, and maybe walking around inside the Capital. Speedy Trial laws and the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments should prohibit what was done, and is being done, but the DOJ attorneys involved, under orders from the Biden/Garland DOJ, and at the behest of Speaker Pelosi, routinely have lied to the federal judges involved to keep them in jail without bail. All because these poor people had the temerity to protest that the Democrats had stolen the election, which we have known they did, from the day after the election. They claim that they need to, essentially, suspend the Constitution because of the wide spread conspiracy (to ostensibly trespass), when the actual widespread conspiracy is between the Speaker and the DOJ. They are, of course, white lies, told to federal judges, for the purest of motives (to preserve the ostensible legitimacy of the Biden Administration, in the face of ever growing evidence of massive election fraud). The DOJ attorneys involved in the 1/6 prosecutions commit far more egregious Obstruction of Justice violations, on a daily basis, than all of the Trump people ever contemplated, and know that they are doing it with impunity, because they got away with it before. And we are powerless to do anything about it, because they will use the power of the federal government against us, if we even try too protest their usurpation of our government.

Gem Quincyite said...

Sorry so crass,
but Some of the Gymnasts credibly reported to Feds their experiences
BEFORE Trumps "Grab 'em by their *****" tape, and tales of Russian ladies peeing on the bed.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Yancey Ward said..."IgisBliss,

Rodney Joffe. The internet company is Neustar. It is Joffe that put together the "evidence" that supported the concocted lie of the Alfa Bank connection."


So I searched (is there an appropriate verb to use when you use DuckDuckGo?) "Rodney Joffe Neustar Sussman" and was told "Not many results contain "Sussman" (where are the inquisitive journalists?), but came up with this useful article: What's in the Sussman Indictment?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"So I searched (is there an appropriate verb to use when you use DuckDuckGo?) "

DDGed?

Lurker21 said...

Why are The Fall Guys always lawyers?

Because they bill for everything.

If the bureaucrats come out with empty pockets, they can usually avoid indictment, but lawyers want the money.

Anonymous said...

The Liberal Establishment and MSM have made it clear that any unethical action or even crime - short of murder - was OK if it "GOT TRUMP".

If the rumors about Seth Rich are true, the Clinton gang does not shrink from crossing a Rubicon even of this breadth. Likewise Vince Foster and upwards of 100 other individuals.

No one should be surprised to learn that people would kill for control of a 6 trillion dollar per year stream of revenue.