New court filings in a Spygate case solve some long-running mysteries and hint at serious developments.
Late Friday, three new memoranda and a handful of exhibits hit the docket in Special Counsel John Durham’s criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. The filings analyzed about a dozen tedious issues concerning what evidence prosecutors may use at trial to prove Sussmann broke the law by lying to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker when he showed Baker information that supposedly indicated Donald Trump had a secret communications channel with the Russia-based Alfa Bank. . .
Two weeks ago, when the wave of pre-trial evidentiary filings began, the special counsel’s office revealed for the first time that the day before Sussmann met with Baker, Sussmann sent this text to Baker’s personal cellphone: “Jim—it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability 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.”
The existence of this text is huge because, as the special counsel stressed in its filing, it shows that “the night before the defendant met with the General Counsel, the defendant conveyed the same lie in writing.” That’s the “same lie” Sussmann then allegedly told Baker in person during their September 19, 2016 meeting, namely that he was not presenting the Alfa Bank-Trump information on behalf of a client.
The text message thus debunked one of the main themes floated by those defending Sussmann: that the special counsel “is bringing a false statement charge based on an oral statement allegedly made five years ago to a single witness that is unrecorded and unobserved by anyone else.”
via joemiller
