Breaking: Durham To Indict Michael Sussman?

Daniel Jones Also In Trouble?

Read about it at Techno Fog’s substack, where he cites NYT reporting:

NYT: John Durham seeks indictment of Clinton Campaign Lawyer

The false statements of Michael Sussman

Sussman, of course, was, until quite recently a partner at Perkins Coie, and a major player in the world of Dem election law work. In Michael Sussman Should Probably Be Concerned (May, 2020) I wrote:

I've mentioned Sussman before--many times. Pay particular attention to James Baker And Michael Sussman Revisited, and recall that James Baker is now said to be cooperating with John Durham's investigation. Here's a brief intro to Sussman, which should leave no doubt as to why he's important for the Russia Hoax investigation:

Michael Sussmann, formerly with the U.S. Department of Justice, is a nationally-recognized privacy, cybersecurity and national security attorney. He is engaged on some of the most sophisticated, high-stakes matters today, such as his representation of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in their responses to Russian hacking in the 2016 presidential election.

However, Sussman's involvement goes far, far, beyond that. It was Sussman who connected Glenn Simpson's Fusion GPS with the Clinton campaign--laundering that connection through his Perkins Coie law firm (a possible election law violation). Anyone who thinks Sussman wouldn't have vetted Simpson hires for the Russia Hoax--such as Nellie Ohr and Chris Steele--should immediately reconsider. In fact, we now know from Steele's London testimony that Steele did meet with Sussman personally.

It was also Sussman who personally went to FBIHQ to meet with his friend James Baker and peddle the fake Alfa Bank story. And the FBI did, in fact, open an investigation into that hoax, with Baker fully aware of Sussman's deep connectins to the Clinton campaign. [Much, much more at the link]

The nub of the legal jeopardy that Sussman finds himself in is that last bit regarding the Alfa Bank hoax. According to the NYT:

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.

Yet Sussman indubitably testified to Congress that he did go to Baker at the FBI with “information” obtained by him from a client. Presumably Baker obtained his clinet’s permission to disclose this “information” to the FBI. In fact, it’s strongly suspected--based on billing documents that have surfaced in Alfa Bank’s civil suit against Fusion GPS--that Sussman’s client was, in fact, Fusion GPS and its principal, Glenn Simpson. Granted, the words “on behalf of” are open to interpretation, but the reality of the situation is almost certainly that Simpson and Sussman were in on the Alfa hoax together, as part of their work for the Clinton campaign.

Thus, to say that Sussman could have a lot of damning information to offer for a plea deal would be an understatement. The question is would he. Some call it  a string of coincidences, but others maintain that crossing the Clintons entails known risks.

Techno Fog also references Sussman’s involvement with the whole DNC “hacking” caper and his connection to Crowdstrike--as I said, there’s a lot of bargaining material there, if Durham can bring pressure to bear. You’ll find more on the DNC and Crowdstrike connection at the link to my earlier post, but here’s a sample:

It turns out that Sussman testified to the House that he gave the FBI full access to the DNC servers after the supposed (but unproven) Russian "hack." I'm a bit sketchy on procedures in cyber investigations--how to conduct proper forensic examinations to preserve the evidence and prevent it from being contaminated--but I checked out Sussman's testimony and that appears to be a fair summary of what he said: that the FBI was provided all the access it could have wished for.

Of course, we've all read numerous seemingly well sourced articles quoting people like disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, all of them saying that the FBI was refused access to the DNC servers--or, at a minimum, the type of access they would have needed to conduct an effective forensic examination/investigation.

Finally, Techno Fog refers briefly to the possibility that former Dianne Feinstein staffer, Daniel Jones, could find himself caught up in the Alfa Bank matter:

As we have discussed, the New Yorker first reported back in 2020 that Durham had impaneled a grand jury relating to the false Alfa Bank/Trump Organization story. There is the potential that former Feinstein staffer Daniel Jones - as well as the researches behind the Alfa Bank matter - will also face charges of giving false information to federal officials.

In one of several earlier posts on Jones--How Big Could The Alfa Bank Hoax Turn Out To Be?--I began with these few paragraphs:

The last time we referenced the Alfa Bank hoax--Alfa Bank Redux--Starring John Durham!--I pointed out that the importance of the fact that Durham is pursuing the Alfa Bank Hoax angle with grand jury subpoenas lies in where that inquiry leads: Straight to the Clinton and, now, the Biden campaigns and organizations:

The Alfa Bank hoax "dossier" memo was written up by Christopher Steele at the express direction of Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann and Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson. Sussmann then took the story directly to the FBI--to a friend of his, James Baker, who happened to be FBI General Counsel, i.e., Comey's top lawyer. Knowing Sussmann as he did, Baker also knew that this hoax story was coming straight from the Clinton campaign. Add that background to the involvement of Daniel Jones and Jake Sullivan in the Alfa Bank hoax (see above), along with the fact that James Baker has long been believed to be cooperating with Durham and we come to this: Durham's conspiracy net is attempting to catch some of the biggest fish in the Dem hierarchy, central figures in both the Clinton and now the Biden campaigns.

The theory that draws these non-government actors into Durham's big picture conspiracy case is they provided false information--false statements, so think 1001--to the government, the FBI. The fact that the FBI would have known the information was false is beside the point. It was a form of information laundering--Hey, we received allegations, we investigated them: Wink, wink!

Daniel Jones and … Jake Sullivan? Yes, that’s the same Jake Sullivan who is currently occupying the position known as “National Security Adviser”. In 2016 he was chief foreign policy adviser to the Hillary campaign.

What can I say? We shall see.