Defense: Notes back claim Clinton lawyer didn't lie to FBI

WASHINGTON >> Defense attorneys for a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia probe showed jurors handwritten notes on Wednesday aimed at undercutting allegations that he misled the federal government about his legal work.

Michael Sussmann is on trial in Washington's federal court, accused of lying to the FBI's general counsel during a September 2016 meeting in which he presented computer data that purported to show a secret communications backchannel between Donald Trump and Russia. The FBI investigated but quickly determined no link existed between the Trump Organization, the former president's company, and Russia-based Alfa Bank. Prosecutors allege he misled the FBI by saying he was not attending the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually representing the interests of the Clinton campaign and another client — a technology executive who had provided him with the data.

The case was brought by special counsel John Durham, a Justice Department prosecutor appointed in 2019 to investigate potential government misconduct in the early days of the inquiry into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign.

Defense lawyers called as their first witnesses former senior Justice Department officials who attended a March 6, 2017, meeting at which FBI leaders briefed them on the status of investigations into potential coordination during the 2016 presidential election between Trump's successful campaign and Russia.

One of those ex-officials, Tashina Gauhar, took notes from the meeting in which she wrote that the Alfa Bank allegations were brought to the FBI by an attorney “on behalf of his client.” She said she didn't recall who at the meeting said that, but said that if she had written that down, then “that's what I would have heard at the briefing.”