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Shop NowSpecial Counsel John Durham is refusing to let the crooks get away with their crimes, as he has just filed a motion in federal court to prevent a criminal lawyer from getting his charges dismissed.
On March 4th, in an attempt to stop a federal court from dismissing the charge against a lawyer who is accused of lying to the FBI about representing Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, John Durham has filed a motion.
This new development comes just a few days after the lawyer, Michael Sussmann, requested that the federal judge dismiss the criminal case against him.
Sussmann hid his relationship with the Hillary Clinton campaign when he gave the FBI findings from a cybersecurity firm alleging suspicious internet activity between then-candidate Donald Trump’s business and a Russian bank.
The Epoch Times had an exclusive scoop on the story, which read:
Michael Sussmann was representing the Clinton campaign when in 2016 he passed along information to an FBI counsel. His lawyers say the documents “raised national security concerns” while prosecutors describe them as purportedly detailing a covert channel between a Russian bank and the business of Donald Trump, Clinton’s rival at the time.
Sussmann was charged with lying to the FBI because he falsely told the counsel he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client despite presenting the information on behalf of the Clinton campaign, prosecutors say.
In a filing in February, Sussmann’s lawyers moved to dismiss the charge, claiming their client “did not make any false statement to the FBI” but even if he had, “the false statement alleged in the indictment is immaterial as a matter of law.”
Sussmann’s lawyers filing stated:
“Allowing this case to go forward would risk criminalizing ordinary conduct, raise First Amendment concerns, dissuade honest citizens from coming forward with tips, and chill the advocacy of lawyers who interact with the government.”
“The Special Counsel’s unprecedented and unlawful overreach should not be countenanced, and the single count against Mr. Sussmann should be dismissed.”
On Friday, March 4th, Special Counsel John Durham and his team urged the federal court to reject Sussmann’s plea to dismiss his case:
“The defendant’s false statement to the FBI General Counsel was plainly material because it misled the General Counsel about, among other things, the critical fact that the defendant was disseminating highly explosive allegations about a then-Presidential candidate on behalf of two specific clients, one of which was the opposing Presidential campaign,” their filing said.
“The defendant’s efforts to mislead the FBI in this manner during the height of a Presidential election season plainly could have influenced the FBI’s decision-making in any number of ways,” Durham’s team argued.
More details from The Epoch Times report:
If the case proceeds to trial, the government expects the evidence to prove that the FBI could have taken steps prior to initiating a full investigation into the matter, including an assessment, and may have delayed a decision until after the 2016 election or ultimately declined to investigate the matter altogether.
Had Sussmann revealed he was working on behalf of clients, the FBI counsel and other FBI workers might have asked other questions, including whether those clients harbored biases or motives that might cast doubt on the reliability of the information, and the FBI would have likely conducted “additional, behind-the-scenes steps (database checks, case file searches, etc.) to assess the defendant’s potential motivations and those of his client,” the special counsel’s office said.
Unfortunately, the decision of the charges against Sussmann will be dismissed will be left up to Obama-nominated District Judge Beryl Howell. Hopefully, her political views won’t affect her decisions on the case.
