Trump-era prosecutor's case against Democratic-linked lawyer goes to trial

WASHINGTON >> When the Trump administration assigned a prosecutor in 2019 to scour the Russia investigation for any wrongdoing, President Donald Trump stoked expectations among his supporters that the inquiry would find a “deep state” conspiracy against him.

Three years later, the team led by the special counsel, John Durham, today will open the first trial in a case their investigation developed, bringing before a jury the claims and counterclaims that surrounded the 2016 presidential campaign. But rather than showing wrongdoing by the FBI, it is a case that portrays the bureau as a victim.

The trial centers on whether Michael Sussmann, a cybersecurity lawyer with ties to Democrats, lied to the FBI in September 2016, when he relayed suspicions about possible cyberconnections between Trump and Russia. The FBI looked into the matter, which involved a server for the Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank, and decided it was unsubstantiated.

In setting up the meeting, Sussmann had told an FBI official that he was not acting on behalf of any client. Prosecutors contend he concealed that a technology executive and the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign were his clients to make the allegations seem more credible.

The defense argues that Sussmann was not acting on their behalf at the meeting. The FBI was aware that he had represented Democrats on matters related to Russia's hacking of their servers, and subsequent communications made clear that he also had a client who had played a role in developing the data analysis concerning Alfa Bank, his lawyers say.

Although the charge against Sussmann is narrow, Durham has used it to release large amounts of information to insinuate that there was a broad conspiracy involving the Clinton campaign to essentially frame Trump for colluding with Russia.