Judge Rejects Clinton Lawyer’s Request to Dismiss Durham Indictment, Sending Case to Trial
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A federal judge has rejected an appeal by former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann to dismiss the case against him brought by Special Counsel John Durham.
A federal grand jury for Durham’s investigation indicted Sussmann in September 2021 for lying to the FBI. The indictment alleges that Sussmann falsely claimed he was not working for any client when he met to discuss purported ties between Russia and the Trump campaign with then-FBI general counsel James Baker in September 2016.
Citing Sussmann’s billing records, the indictment alleges that he was working for the Clinton campaign when he took the meeting. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee and the judge overseeing the case against Sussmann, wrote in a six-page ruling on Wednesday that Sussmann attempted to dismiss the case because even if the Durham grand jury indictment is correct, the “purported misrepresentation to Baker was immaterial as a matter of law.”
Sussmann’s defense further argued that the alleged lie “could not have influenced” the FBI on “whether to initiate an investigation” into the alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
However, Cooper rejected those arguments.
“As the Special Counsel argues, it is at least possible that statements made to law enforcement prior to an investigation could materially influence the later trajectory of the investigation,” Cooper wrote. “Sussmann offers no legal authority to the contrary.”
The ruling allows for the case against Sussmann to go to trial next month.
Cooper’s ruling comes a week after Durham filed new evidence in the case against Sussmann: a text message from Sussmann to Baker, the FBI official, the night before their meeting.
“I’m coming on my own — not on behalf of a client or company — want to help the bureau,” Sussmann wrote in the message, according to Durham’s filing. The text provides evidence outside Baker’s and Sussmann’s meeting that the latter claimed he was not acting on behalf of a client.
