Durham Probe UPDATE: Closing In On Clinton

Durham

Up until now, it’s simply been a procedural win however, it could become a bigger win for the Durham probe case against Michael Sussmann. The judge in the case has actually consented to privately review files which legal representatives for the 2016 Clinton Campaign and Fusion GPS claim are covered under attorney-client privilege.

The judge in the case of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann has agreed to review dozens of records currently withheld because of assertions of attorney-client privilege by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to see if they have been improperly concealed...

Judge Christopher Cooper said Wednesday he would grant the government’s motion, arguing he did not believe it was breaking attorney-client privilege for him to review the records in dispute in an “in camera” setting, away from the public and the press.

The Clinton legal representatives have declared that Fusion GPS was hired solely for legal services that consisted of advising the campaign on libel and libel laws, which is clearly nonsense. As the judge pointed out, there’s proof directly from the creators of Fusion GPS that the company did more than just offer legal recommendations:

The judge quoted from an email by [Fusion GPS co-founder Peter] Fritsch to a reporter in October 2016 in which the Fusion co-founder said to “do the f***ing Alfa bank secret comms story.”

The judge said: “How is that assisting Mr. Elias providing legal advice? … That is assisting a media strategy.”

The judge said he was “not convinced” that the Clinton campaign should just have a blanket assertion of privilege.

Durham has some extra assistance for that claim that Fusion GPS did more than simply use legal guidance covered by privilege. In February the FEC fined the DNC and the Clinton campaign for mislabeling their expenditures:

The Federal Election Commission has fined the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for lying about the funding of the infamous, and discredited, Russian “dossier” used in a smear attempt against Donald Trump weeks before he shocked the world with his 2016 presidential victory.

The election agency said that Clinton and the DNC violated strict rules on describing expenditures of payments funneled to the opposition research firm Fusion GPS through their law firm.

A combined $1,024,407.97 was paid by the treasurers of the DNC and Clinton campaign to law firm Perkins Coie for Fusion GPS’s information, and the party and campaign hid the reason, claiming it was for legal services, not opposition research.

Durham included a copy of that FEC decision in a filing he made with the court earlier this week:

Durham’s motion attached recently public FEC filings, including the FEC’s “conciliation agreement” with the DNC and Hillary for America. The FEC found “probable cause to believe” the Clinton campaign and the DNC improperly reported their payments to Perkins Coie for Fusion GPS’s opposition research as “legal and compliance consulting,” the special counsel said.

The special counsel said evidence at trial, set to begin this month, will show that beginning in late July 2016, Sussmann, Joffe, and “agents of the Clinton campaign” were “assembling and disseminating the Russian Bank-1 allegations and other derogatory information about Trump and his associates to the media and the U.S. government.” The special counsel said he will “establish that these efforts amounted to a joint venture.”

It definitely seems like team Clinton is going to lose this round. They were fined for not identifying their expenditures properly and the judge is aware Combination GPS did more than provide legal guidance. More to the point, it appears Durham’s team currently has concrete proof Sussmann lied to the FBI. If the judge provides Durham with the documents he wants, the next question ends up being whether Sussmann will fall on his sword or if he’ll decide to make a deal to work together with Durham. That needs to be the supreme point of all of this. And if Sussmann begins working together there’s no telling what we’ll learn next.

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