Durham Probe: New Damning Evidence Against Clinton Campaign Lawyer & 'Joint Venture' Allegations

Special Counsel John Durham published evidence on Monday night indicating that former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann allegedly lied to the FBI "in writing" that his Trump-Russia "research" had not been made for any client.

"Jim – it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss," Sussmann allegedly wrote to FBI general counsel James Baker on 18 September 2016, as quoted by Durham in his latest court filing. "Do you have availibilty [sic] for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company – want to help the Bureau. Thanks."

Sussmann was indicted on 16 September 2021 for allegedly lying to the FBI in 2016 that he carried out research concerning supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organisation and Russia's Alfa Bank on his own. At that time Sussmann worked for Perkins Coie, a law firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

The aforementioned message was written the night before the lawyer met general counsel Baker. On 19 September 2016, Sussmann met Baker bringing with him three "white papers" and data files allegedly confirming the existence of the aforementioned "back channel" between the Trump Organisation and Alfa Bank. Later, the FBI shredded these as they were unsubstantiated.

Despite claiming that he was coming on his own, the Perkins Coie lawyer "assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two specific clients," including "Tech Executive-1" (identified by The Epoch Times and CNN as Rodney Joffe) and the Clinton Campaign, Durham said. Remarkably, in his September 2021 indictment of Sussmann, the Special Counsel remarked that Joffe bragged at that time about being offered a position in the Clinton administration if Hillary won.

According to The Epoch Times, Sussmann’s lawyers previously denied that the defendant had told Baker he had not been acting on anyone's behalf: "The Special Counsel has brought a false statement charge on the basis of a purported oral statement made over five years ago for which there is only a single witness, Mr. Baker; for which there is no recording; and for which there are no contemporaneous notes by anyone who was actually in the meeting," Sussmann’s attorneys stated last year.

Durham's latest filing indicates that the defendant may have put his lie in writing.

"This text from Sussmann to Baker is damning for Sussmann’s case, proving Sussmann’s efforts to deceive a top official at the FBI about his clients, and demonstrating how Sussmann tried to convince Baker he was there supposedly to do the right thing," writes Techno Fog, a pseudonym for an American lawyer, writer and blogger.

What’s more, Durham has produced notes which were taken by Assistant FBI Director Bill Priestap and former FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson during their conversation with Baker after his 19 September 2016 meeting with Sussmann. Both notes clearly say that Sussmann told the FBI general counsel that he was "not doing this [research] for any client."

But that is not all: according to Special Counsel Durham, Sussmann took Alfa Bank allegations to the CIA on 9 February 2017 – after Donald Trump won the presidential race – again denying he was acting on behalf of a client.

"The aforementioned communications demonstrate the materiality of the defendant's lie insofar as they reveal the political origins and purposes for this work," Durham wrote. "And those political origins are especially probative here because they provided a motive for the defendant to conceal his clients' involvement in these matters."

This is not the only damning issue concerning Sussmann and his counterparts involved in digging up dirt on Donald Trump.

In his latest court filing, Special Counsel Durham emphasised that the "evidence of a joint venture or conspiracy" will establish that Sussmann and Joffe "worked in concert with each other and with agents of the Clinton Campaign to research and disseminate the [Alfa Bank] allegations." According to Techno Fog, the allegations of conspiracy prompt question as to which "agents of the Clinton Campaign" were also involved in it.

Award-winning investigative journalist John Solomon has also drawn attention to the fact that "for the first time this week", Durham called efforts by Sussmann and his counterparts "a 'joint venture' and a conspiracy to shop unproven Trump dirt."

Solomon suggests that Durham's new declaration of a conspiracy indicates that the special counsel will now be focused on the approach that the unverified dossier from former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, and Sussmann's lately debunked Alfa Bank narrative were a "joint venture" "designed to flood government agencies with information — later proved to be false or flawed — to make it look as though Trump was conspiring with Russia."