Clinton lawyer to claim FBI knew

Michael Sussmann will argue that the FBI knew he was working for the Hillary Clinton campaign — even though he is accused of lying about it by special counsel John Durham.

Sussmann was encouraging the FBI to look at an alleged link between Russia and candidate Donald Trump, and claimed in an e-mail that he wasn’t working on behalf of any client. Durham argues that he lied, and he was working as a lawyer for Clinton.

But Sussmann’s lawyers claim that more than 300 FBI e-mail chains they reviewed show the feds knew he worked for Democratic campaigns, according to The Washington Post.

Also, fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe knew Sussmann was acting on behalf of an unidentified client, according to notes taken from a meeting with agents.

In a five-page order issued Friday ahead of jury selection, Washington, DC, Judge Christopher Cooper said Sussmann may be allowed to use the notes for his defense.

And “if the defense believes in good faith that it will be able to lay a proper foundation for the notes, it is free to mention them in its opening statement,” Cooper ruled.

The Justice Department notes were made by two top DOJ officials about a March 2017 briefing of then-acting Attorney General Dana Boente on the FBI’s various Russia-related investigations, including the allegations that Sussmann brought to the bureau in September 2016.

Sussmann is charged with lying to the government by claiming he wasn’t “acting on behalf of any client” when he gave then-FBI general counsel James Baker since-debunked reports and data that purportedly revealed a secret back channel between a Trump Organization computer server and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

Special counsel John Durham alleges that Sussmann was actually working on behalf of both Clinton’s campaign and Rodney Joffe, a tech executive who alerted him to the data.

Evidence compiled by Durham includes FBI notes that allegedly back up the charge against Sussmann.