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Clinton's former campaign manager said he took the idea of leaking Trump-Russia allegations to multiple senior campaign officials.WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook testified Friday that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton approved the dissemination of materials alleging a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank to the media, despite campaign officials not being "totally confident" in the legitimacy of the data. Mook was called to the stand for testimony by Michael Sussmann’s defense Friday. During cross-examination by government prosecutor Andrew DeFillippis Friday, Mook was asked about the campaign’s understanding of the Alfa Bank...

Day 2 of the Michael Sussmann trial started with some housekeeping. Here are the rulings of note: Robby Mook, who has a scheduled vacation in Spain, will testify on Friday. He’s a defense witness. Evidence of Steele’s meetings with Sussmann and Fusion GPS in July 2016, and his tasking to conduct research on Alfa Bank, according to the judge, “can come in.” The judge observed they are “relevant to Mr. Sussmann’s activities for the campaign and his attorney-client relationship, as far as it went, with the campaign as it relates to Alfa-Bank.” Onto the witnesses. We start with the short...

John Haughey of The Epoch Times twitter feed with live updates John Haughey @JFHaughey58 · 1h Deliberations begin Tuesday morning at the E. Barnett Prettyman U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in Michael #Sussmann's trial for allegedly lying to the FBI about the #Trump Organization's purported ties to a Russian BankThere will actually be 16 jurors seated during the trial with four not knowing that they are alternates and will not be "in the room" when the case goes to the jury for a verdict.Lengthy discussion regarding the infamous #SteeleDossier ...former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele cannot be compelled to...

On Tuesday, trial in United States v. Sussmann began. Michael Sussmann’s theory of defense has major factual holes.The Hillary Clinton campaign did not want its attorney, Michael Sussmann, to share the Alfa Bank data with the FBI, jurors were told yesterday during the defense’s opening arguments in the special counsel’s criminal case against Sussmann. But the information known to date, as well as the modus operandi of the Spygate players throughout the years they peddled the Russia-collusion hoax, render this argument laughable. On Tuesday, trial in United States v. Sussmann began in earnest following a day of jury selection. At...

It started with disclosure by Special Counsel DeFilippis informing the Court that government witness Dr. Manos Antonakakis (identified as Researcher-1 in the Sussmann indictment) “has decided to invoke his Fifth Amendment right.” He would not be called to the stand. More background on Manos here. From there it was time for opening statements. Special Counsel Brittain Shaw made clear that this case is “about privilege: the privilege of a well-connected D.C. lawyer with access to the highest levels of the FBI; the privilege of a lawyer who thought that he could lie to the FBI without consequences.” Using that privilege,...

The first trial to emerge from Special Counsel John Durham's probe finally got underway Tuesday – as prosecutors accused former Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann of trying to engineer an 'October surprise' when he sought out a top FBI official to discuss an allegation about Trump and Russia. The allegation didn't pan out, but the meeting itself constituted an effort to 'use and manipulate' federal law enforcement for political ends, prosecutors argued. Sussmann's defense team argued he was forthright when he acted on his own to bring information to authorities, and said the intervention did not benefit the Clinton camp...

As many as three Hillary Clinton donors — including one who also supported US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — are among the prospective jurors for former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann’s trial. Special counsel John Durham’s team objected to putting one Clinton contributor on the panel after the man said he would “strive for impartiality as best I can.” But the prosecution was overruled by Washington, DC, federal Judge Christopher Cooper, who said the man — who works in public policy for Amazon and appeared to be in his 40s — “expressed a high degree of confidence” that he could be...

As the trial against Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann begins, questions have emerged over the judge’s apparent conflicts of interest.,/A>Judge Christopher “Casey” CooperIn additional to having been “professional acquaintances” with the defendant, US District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper, an Obama appointee (who was on Obama’s transition team), is married to lawyer Amy Jeffress who’s representing key ‘Russiagate’ figure Lisa Page in her lawsuit against the FBI. Jeffress also served as a top aide to former Attorney General Eric Holder, while current Attorney General Merrick Garland presided over the 1999 wedding of Cooper and Jeffress. Amy JeffressIn a Wednesday Zoom call,...

Despite machinations attempting to hide the full truth of how Spygate conspiracies to entrap Donald Trump were spun, lots will come out into the open.Subpoenaed Fusion GPS employee Laura Seago is likely to stay mum during questioning at the criminal trial of Michael Sussmann that starts this week. Her silence will be yet further evidence that the Hillary Clinton campaign financed and seeded the Russia collusion hoax to both the press and U.S. intelligence agencies. Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in a D.C. federal court in the criminal case against former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. While...

Special Counsel John Durham enters court on Monday with the first trial of his investigation into the Democrats collusion hoax with Russia. It’s a formality. Mr. Durham has already won. Perkins Coie attorney Michael Sussmann is accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by claiming that the dirt on Donald Trump he passed on to the FBI was not delivered on behalf of “any client”. Mr. Sussmann was on the payroll of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee and worked extensively with outside actors and the media to produce the collusion narrative as well as documents...

Several high-profile Democratic political operatives and officials are set to take the witness stand next week in the trial of former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, attorneys for both sides revealed in court Monday. Robby Mook, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias and FBI counterintelligence leader Bill Priestap and former top FBI lawyer James Baker are among those called as government witnesses, said prosecutor Andrew DeFilipiis. The prosecution spearheaded by special counsel John Durham’s probe of the FBI’s Trump-Russia collusion investigation also will put on the stand: - Laura Seago, a top tech official at...

A judge has ruled that Special Counsel John Durham’s office must limit the evidence it plans to use in court to try to show a “joint venture” between Michael Sussmann and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Sussmann, a cybersecurity lawyer, has been charged with lying to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker when he handed over data in September 2016 that claimed to show communications between former President Trump’s presidential campaign and the Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank. Sussmann did not divulge he was working for the Clinton campaign at the time.

I want to return to John Durham’s objection to Michael Sussmann’s plan to offer notes from an FBI Agent and notes from a March 6, 2017 meeting as evidence. The defense also may seek to offer (i) multiple pages of handwritten notes taken by an FBI Headquarters Special Agent concerning his work on the investigation of the Russian Bank-1 allegations, (including notes reflecting information he received from the FBI Chicago case team), and (ii) notes taken by multiple DOJ personnel at a March 6, 2017 briefing by the FBI for the then-Acting Attorney General on various Trump-related investigations, including the...

There's Really No Escape Now That He's Laid Out Most Of the Organized RICO Conspiracy Against Donald Trump Attending Threadfest in Nashville sucked a lot of the oxygen out of me the past week and a half so I'm aware I’m way behind on keeping up with the latest Durham filings. So here’s a brief summary of what happened the past week and a half: Durham suckered Hillary for America [HFA], the DNC, Perkins Coie, Fusion GPS and Rodney Joffe into sudden furious activity where they rushed to the court in D.C. to file Motions To Intervene in the case...

The judge in the case of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann has agreed to review dozens of records currently withheld because of assertions of attorney-client privilege by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to see if they have been improperly concealed. The agreement is a win for special counsel John Durham in his case against Sussmann, who has been indicted on charges of concealing his clients, the Clinton campaign and tech executive Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker when he pushed eventually debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. Judge Christopher Cooper...

Special counsel John Durham will not be allowed to present “extensive evidence” of the inaccuracy of the Trump-Russia collusion claims in his case against Michael Sussmann — unless the Democratic cybersecurity lawyer argues their accuracy first. Sussmann was indicted last September for allegedly concealing his clients, Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Executive-1" Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker in September 2016 after Sussmann pushed since-debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. Durham says Sussmann similarly concealed his client, Joffe, when he pushed further Trump-Russia collusion claims to the CIA in...

In a coordinated legal action between a number of Hillary Clinton operatives and associates, almost two dozen separate documents were simultaneously filed on April 19 in special counsel John Durham’s case against former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. This sudden flurry of mass filings included responses from former Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, campaign manager Robby Mook, Clinton campaign lead lawyer Marc Elias, contractors Fusion GPS, the Clinton campaign itself, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The trigger for the flurry of filings was a request by Durham to unseal a number of emails involving the parties. The emails are...

'Russia collusion' investigation continues to rock Washington with 'bombshells'. Special Counsel John Durham's investigation into the origins of the "Russia collusion" conspiracy theory that Democrats projected on the 2016 Trump campaign – for years – continues to be rocked by bombshells. Among the latest, according to constitutional expert and popular commentator Jonathan Turley, is that so far "at least five of the former Clinton campaign contractors/researchers have invoked the Fifth Amendment," refusing to cooperate "in fear that they might incriminate themselves."

Five associates of Hillary Clinton and her campaign are invoking their Fifth Amendment rights and refusing to cooperate with Special Counsel John H. Durham, according a filing in federal court revealed later Friday in Washington, DC. The revelation emerged in a motion filed by Durham to oppose the efforts of defendant Michael Sussmann and the Clinton campaign to withhold some documents from evidence by asserting attorney-client privilege. Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI in 2016 when he informed the FBI about a fraudulent link between then-candidate Donald Trump and the Russian government via Alfa Bank. Sussmann allegedly presented...

The accusations of former President Donald Trump having a relationship with Russia that was provided by a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer was "not technically possible," special counsel John Durham wrote in a court filing posted Friday. Less than two months before the 2016 presidential election, Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann presented "purported data and 'white papers' that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel" between the Trump Organization and the Kremlin-tied Alfa Bank to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker. In February 2017, Sussman reportedly furnished an "updated set of allegations" about Trump working with Russia to the CIA. Durham outlined Sussmann's involvement...