I reported on September 16 that the Durham investigation into the Russia probe finally came in with a second indictment and this one touched someone of substance – Michael Sussman, a partner in Perkins Coie, the law firm for both the DNC and Hillary Clinton. Sussman later resigned from the firm after the indictment came down.
The charge was that he made a false statement to the FBI, telling the FBI that he wasn’t representing the Clinton 2016 campaign when he was spreading the false stories about the Trump Organization and a Russian bank when actually he was working the Clinton Campaign.
“Sussmann’s statement to the FBI General Counsel that he was not acting on behalf of any client was knowingly and intentionally false. In truth and in fact, and as Sussmann well knew, Sussmann acted on behalf of and in coordination with two specific clients of Law Firm-1, i.e., Tech Executive-1 and the Clinton Campaign, in assembling and conveying these allegations. In particular, and as also alleged above, Tech Executive-1 consulted and relied on Sussmann as his lawyer to assist in disseminating the Russian Bank-1 allegations,” the indictment says.
That indictment was big – finally touching the Clinton world, something we all knew, but making it official.
So the question was would there be anything more? Would there be other big names? The indictment suggested they might be more coming.
Now there’s some more information on the case and yes, it definitely indicates that Durham thinks there is more.
According to National Review, there was a new set of subpoenas issued earlier this month, after Sussman was charged.
Durham is seeking more documents from Perkins Coie. So the question is are they looking into more charges or issues with Sussman or in regard to someone else
Additionally, what has come out since is the identity of “Tech Executive-1” who has been identified in reporting as Rodney Joffe. Fox is reporting that Joffe has also gotten a subpoena.
Special Counsel Durham has issued at least one more subpoena, this to Perkins Coie, a law firm connected to Clinton 2016 campaign, according to sources familiar. Tech exec Rodney Joffe also received a subpoena. A source says he was mentioned in Sussman’s indictment, not by name.
— Jake Gibson (@JakeBGibson) September 30, 2021
Durham noted Joffe initially hired Sussmann in February 2015 “in connection with a matter involving an agency of the U.S. government,” and Sussmann “frequently served as outside counsel to Internet Company-1, which was a significant source of revenue” for himself and Perkins Coie. Durham said Joffe served as Sussmann’s “primary point of contact at Internet Company-1” during the relevant 2016 and 2017 time frame.
Durham said a computer researcher who goes by the moniker “Tea Leaves” — dubbed “Originator 1” in the indictment — was a “business associate” of Joffe’s and “assembled purported DNS data reflecting apparent DNS lookups between” Alfa Bank and an alleged Trump Organization email domain, with data spanning early May to late July 2016. Durham said Joffe “and others” were in possession of the “Russian Bank Data” by July 2016.
Joffe alerted Sussmann about the Alfa Bank claims by July 2016, Durham said, and “over the ensuing weeks, and as part of their lawyer-client relationship,” Sussmann and Joffe “engaged in efforts with Campaign Lawyer-1” — identifiable as former Perkins Coie lawyer and Clinton campaign general counsel.
“Individuals acting on behalf of the Clinton Campaign to share information about the Russian Bank Data with the media and others, claiming that it demonstrated the existence of a secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russian Bank-1,” according to the report.
Christopher Steele’s ‘research’ was funded by the Clinton campaign through Fusion GPS which had been hired by Marc Elias, who worked for Perkins Coie and was the general counsel for Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Hillary Clinton and Jake Sullivan (who is now Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser) both promoted the fake Alfa-Bank smear that Clinton had allegedly set in motion.
Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank. pic.twitter.com/8f8n9xMzUU
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 1, 2016
The billing is where they are getting Sussman. Like a lawyer, he billed for everything, according to the indictment.
Sussman billed the Clinton Campaign for a meeting with Joffe and Elias on Aug. 12, 2016, as well as for a conference call they had later in the day.
Sussman met with Elias on Aug. 19 for a “meeting with Rodney” and that was also billed to the Clinton campaign.
The indictment showed other billing to the campaign based on “disseminating” the Alfa Bank allegation on Sept. 17 and 18, 2016. Then perhaps most significantly, he even billed the Clinton Campaign for his meeting with the FBI’s James Baker to weaponize the claim to the FBI, billing it as “work and communications regarding the confidential project.”
Can I dare to even hope that finally the “confidential project” will suffer some consequences even after all this time and under the Biden Administration? This is looking very positive.
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