Trial opens for Clinton campaign lawyer accused of lying to FBI while planting Trump-Russia tale
The first trial resulting from Special Counsel John Durham’s methodical investigation into the origins of the discredited Trump-Russia collusion narrative opens Monday as 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann faces justice for allegedly lying to the FBI.
Durham alleges Sussmann lied in September 2016 when he told then-FBI-General-Counsel James Baker that he was not working on behalf of any client while feeding the federal law enforcement agency since-debunked allegations about then-candidate Donald Trump.
Judge Christopher Cooper, appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, will preside in the trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The proceeding begins at 9 a.m. Eastern time.
Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor, told the FBI that the Trump Organization had a secret communications channel with the Kremlin through Russia’s Alfa Bank. The FBI, CIA, Trump-Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller and others have debunked the claim.
Durham, Sussmann legal teams agree on about two dozen possible jurors, trial could start by Tuesday
Lawyers for Special Prosecutor John Durham and former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on Monday began the process of selecting a jury pool with the process possibly concluding as earlier as tonight.
By lunch recess, 23 jurors were confirmed out of a possible total pool of 37, from which 12 jurors will be chosen for the trial. Potential jurors were questioned about their donations to 2016 presidential campaigns and if they would be able to set aside their views of both political parties’ candidates and judge the case fairly.
The trial, taking place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is Durham’s first in his probe into the origins of the now-discredited Trump-Russia collusion narrative that began in 2019.
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