Topline
A federal jury on Tuesday found former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann not guilty of lying to the FBI about his ties to Democrats when he shared allegations against Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential race, marking a major loss for Special Counsel John Durham, who has spent three years looking for wrongdoing in past federal investigations of potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Special counsel John Durham leaves a federal courthouse on May 16, 2022.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key Facts
A federal jury deliberated for about six hours Friday and again Tuesday before deciding to acquit Sussmann, who was the first person charged by Durham to go to trial.
Prosecutors alleged Sussmann falsely claimed he wasn’t acting on behalf of his client, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, when he gave the FBI information about a potential communications channel between computer servers at Trump Tower and the Russia-based Alfa Bank, allegations the FBI later found to be false.
Prosecutors told the jury Sussmann believed he had a “license to lie” to the FBI during the 2016 presidential campaign, while Sussmann’s lawyers claimed the case against him was a “political conspiracy theory,” according to the Washington Post.
Sussmann had pleaded not guilty and claimed he had turned over the information as a concerned citizen and not on behalf of the Clinton campaign.
Key Background
Prosecutors allege Sussmann hid his ties to the Clinton campaign during a meeting in September 2016, less than two months before the presidential election, when he shared a tip with the FBI’s general counsel, James Baker, on the Trump Organization’s purported ties to the Russia-based Alfa Bank. The tip—which came as the FBI was already probing whether Trump was working with Russia to influence the election—spurred media coverage and led to a months-long FBI inquiry that found the claim to be false. Sussmann said he came to the FBI out of genuine concern and claimed the tip came from legitimate cyber experts. His lawyers also claimed his ties to Democrats were already known to the FBI.
Tangent
The case was part of a broader probe led by Durham into how federal agents handled an investigation into purported ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, which culminated in a report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2019. The Alfa Bank allegations were not included in Mueller’s report, which determined there was enough evidence to show Russia tried to help Trump’s campaign but not enough to prove the two sides worked together to influence the election. Trump has called the investigation into his campaign’s links to Russia a “witch hunt.”
What To Watch For
Another trial. Durham brought five charges last fall against Igor Danchenko, a Russian native, for allegedly giving false information to the FBI in the Trump-Russia investigation. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial in October in federal court. Durham has charged one other person so far—Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer who received a one-year probation for falsifying an email during the Russia investigation.
Further Reading
Lawyer Sussmann, who worked for Clinton, acquitted of lying to FBI in 2016 (Washington Post)
Ex-Clinton Campaign Lawyer Found Not Guilty of Lying to FBI (Bloomberg)
EXPLAINER: Why stakes are high in trial tied to Russia probe (Associated Press)