Analyst: Hillary Should Be Questioned Over Green-Lighting Trump-Russia Hoax

Clinton’s former presidential campaign manager has alleged that she personally authorised the diffusion of the later-debunked Trump-Alfa Bank allegations, despite concerns about accuracy.

"At first blush, [campaign manager Robert] Mook's confirmation seems simply a surprising by-product as he was called as a defence witness [in campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann’s trial on charges of lying to the FBI]," says Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel.

"Perhaps, though, there has been some sort of agreement that [prosecutor] John Durham will not call Hillary Clinton as a witness in this trial. If so, Hillary would not risk having to confirm Mook's admission or to contradict it,” he continued.

Ex-Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussmann was charged by Special Counsel John Durham on 16 September 2021 with misleading the FBI in September 2016 over research into supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organization and Russia's Alfa Bank.

While Sussmann insisted that he spoke on no-one's behalf, Durham argues that the defendant "assembled and conveyed the [Russia] allegations" on behalf of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and tech executive Rodney Joffe.

In his lengthy indictment, Special Counsel Durham showed that "researchers" were tasked with finding alleged backchannels between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, however the same researchers were not sure that these "communications" ever existed. Nevertheless, they were encouraged to locate them in order to please "VIPs." Judging from email exchanges, some researchers appeared to propose faking such internet communications, but expressed concerns that these "tricks" could be later debunked by independent observers.

Delivering his 20 May testimony, former Clinton campaign manager Mook admitted that the campaign was also not sure that the Trump-Alfa Bank story was accurate. However, when campaign members Sussmann, John Podesta, Jen Palmeri and Mook himself offered to push the uncorroborated story to the media at a briefing with Clinton, she approved it. The FBI later rubbished the Trump-Alfa Bank story as groundless.

"One hopes now that Hillary will indeed be interviewed under oath before a grand jury to explain, precisely, how the Alfa bank and Russia hoax allegations were released to the public and over what time frame," says Ortel.

Central Intelligence Director (CIA) Director John Brennan walks to his podium to begin a news conference at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014

© AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

CIA Chief John Brennan's Memo

The story of Hillary's approval of the Trump-Alfa Bank hoax appears to confirm former CIA Chief John Brennan's memo, written after he briefed President Barack Obama in late July 2016, the analyst notes.

According to the intercepted intelligence, on 26 July 2016, Clinton allegedly approved "a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service" as a distraction from the controversy surrounding her private email server. At the time, the FBI was looking into Hillary's mismanagement of confidential government documents sent via her unprotected email server.

Brennan briefed Obama on the matter on 28 July 2016, a date which Jonathan Turley, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, claims to be significant in a recent op-ed for The Hill.

"It was three days before the FBI’s collusion investigation began," Turley wrote. "It also was a couple of months before Sussmann contacted then-FBI General Counsel Jim Baker while claiming he was not representing any client. (He was counsel to the Clinton campaign and, according to prosecutors, billed the meeting time to the campaign.)"

In early August 2016, the Clinton campaign released a political ad which speculated about Trump's alleged links to Moscow under the headline "What is Donald Trump's connection to Vladimir Putin?"

On 31 October 2016 – nearly a week before the presidential elections – US magazine Slate published a story titled "Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?". Immediately following this, Clinton tweeted: "Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank."

According to Ortel, an "objective review of Hillary Clinton's life would likely conclude that no one has been a more prolific and dangerous spreader of 'disinformation' (known falsehoods) than Hillary, who today has become immensely wealthy trafficking in deceit."

New Special Counsel to Investigate Hillary

Mook's remarks may lead to a new investigation to examine Hillary Clinton's role in spreading the Trump-Russia "collusion" hoax and her probable motives, carried out by an experienced, objective and apolitical special counsel, according to Ortel.

However, to whom any new special counsel might report is unclear, the analyst says, given that "the attorney general and deputy attorney general – Lisa Monaco – each are Obama loyalists as are many in the Justice Department. Others are also Clinton loyalists."

Finally, he concluded that an investigation into Clinton may shine light on numerous questions concerning the controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation, alleged pay-to-play corruption, money-laundering and tax-evasion that co-conspirators, including the Clinton team, are likely trying to hide.

"John Durham will play his cards and unveil his report but true clean-up efforts may only advance swiftly should Democrats lose control of the House and the Senate after the looming November 2022 elections," the Wall Street analyst says.