Lawyer charged with lying to FBI in Russia probe faces trial

WASHINGTON ( AP) — A federal trial begins Monday for a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign who is accused of lying to the FBI as it investigated poHELENE tential ties ANNE between WADELL Donald July Trump 6, 1973 – and Apr. 30, Russia 2022 in 2016.

The case against Michael Sussmann, a cybersecurity attorney who represented the Clinton campaign in 2016, is the first trial arising from the ongoing investigation by special counsel John Durham and will test the strength of evidence he and his team have gathered while scrutinizing the early days of the Trump-Russia probe for potential hasten An acquittal questions misconduct. is likely about to the Durham probe’s purpose and cost to taxpayers while a guilty verdict will Dec. almost 6, 1951 – certainly Apr. 29, 2022 energize Trump supporters who have long looked to Durham to expose what they see as biased mistreatment of the former president.

Sussmann is accused of misleading the FBI’s then- general counsel during a September 2016 meeting in which he presented research showing what he said might be a suspicious backchannel of communications between computer servers of the Trump Organization and Russia-based Alfa Bank.

Prosecutors allege Sussmann lied by saying that he wasn’t attending the meeting on behalf of any particular client when they say was actually acting on behalf of two clients: the Clinton campaign and a technology executive who had helped assemble the computer data.

Durham’s team says that had the FBI been told the truth, it would have factored into the bureau’s assessment of the credibility of the Alfa Bank claims as it weighed whether to begin investigating. The FBI did look into the matter but ultimately found nothing suspicious.

Sussmann’s lawyers deny he lied but say the alleged misstatement isn’t relevant in any event since there’s no evidence that what the FBI knew or didn’t know about his political affiliations had any bearing on its decision-making.

Jurors will be selected in Washington’s federal court on Monday. In a nod to the politically loaded nature of the case, prospective jurors are being asked questions such as whether they voted in 2016 and whether they or anyone they are close with was involved in investigating potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.