Clinton Lawyer Michael Sussmann Lied To The CIA About Faulty Trump-Russia Intelligence In Addition To The FBI, Special Prosecutor John Durham Claims In New Court Filing
April 16 2022, Published 5:40 p.m. ET
A cybersecurity lawyer who represented Hillary Clinton in her 2016 election loss to Donald Trump provided information to America’s peak international spy agency, the CIA, pushing them to use flawed intelligence in a bid prove ties between Trump and Russia, a federal judge has been told.
The investigation and prosecution into former Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann took a dramatic turn late Friday in newly filed court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com.
Sussman, who has denied any wrongdoing, is charged with lying to the then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September of 2016.
The fresh claims of top-level Clinton campaign meddling come from explosive CIA unclassified memos recorded during former president Trump’s first month in the oval office.
They were obtained by Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration to review the FBI investigation into claims that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian officials.
Durham, in court documents, outlined notes of two interviews Sussman had with at least three CIA agents beginning just 11 days after Trump’s inauguration.
Sussman first met the CIA on January 31, 2017, according to the filing. In records labelled a “memorandum of conversation” by what Durham called “Agency-2” — widely understood to be the CIA — Sussman is said to have provided alleged evidence showing “the presence and activity of a unique Russian made phone around President Trump.”
“Sussman said that he represents a CLIENT who does want to be known, but who had interesting information about the presence and activity of a unique Russian made phone around President Trump,” the spooks noted, according to exhibits logged in Durham’s 42-page filing.
“The activity started in April 2016 when then President elect Trump was working was working out of the Trump Tower on its W-Fi network, and after his move to the White House.”
“The same phone surfaced on the EOD network (assume Executive Office Briefing.”
Trump supporters are likely to seize on the Durham’s filing as evidence Hillary Clinton’s campaign spied on the Trump campaign because Sussman’s confessed the secret “activity” started in April 2016 during the Trump-Clinton race.
Sussman also sensationally told the CIA it continued after Trump’s “move to the White House.”
Durham, a one-time United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, said Sussman’s statement that he had provided the FBI with “similar, though unrelated” allegations is “false, or at best, misleading” and should therefore be included.
Sussman told the unnamed CIA counterintelligence official the Russian device, a so-called YotaPhone smartphone, was always in Trump’s orbit and even “appeared with Trump in Michigan” when he was interviewing a Cabinet Secretary.
He said that “only dozen or so of these phones are present in the US as something Russian travelers forget that they don’t work on US cellular system and bring them in (to the) country.”
“There are two version of the Yota phone (one is) a high end [double screen] and regular one screen. The CLIENT claims that t(he) double screen YotaPhones are often given by Russian government officials as gifts.”
“The phone was never noticed in two places at once only around the President’s Movements,” the CIA agent noted from his interview with Sussman.
Less than two weeks later, on February 9, 2017, Sussman met with two more counterintelligence officials from the agency.
In the filing, Durham said Sussman “made substantially the same false statement as the one the Indictment charges he made to the FBI General Counsel just months earlier.”
In a statement memorialized in a Memorandum For Record by the CIA, Sussman “provided an updated version” of Trump’s ties to Alfa Bank.
The agent advised “Mr. Sussmann that given the location of such activities [redacted] and involvement of US Persons, we would need to refer all relevant information to the FBI.”
The counter intelligence official also advised, “[They would] need to report any evidence of criminal activity to the FBI/DOJ. Mr. Sussmann had no objections to providing any relevant information to the FBI.
“He mentioned that he had previously contacted [the] FBI General Counsel, [] on a similar, though unrelated, matter. Based on how the FBI had handled the matter, and because he thought [Agency-2] (believed to be the CIA) had the necessary technical expertise, he wanted to pass the current information directly to [Agency-2].”
The CIA concluded that Sussmann was providing implausible data to federal authorities.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Said Durham: “The statement bears directly on the Russian Bank-1 (Alfa Bank) allegations, which underpin the meeting in which the charged false statement was made.”
He added the new evidence should be included in the case because it “supports an inference of the defendant’s ‘intent’ and ‘plan’ to deceive Agency-2 by prompting them to act on information without truthfully describing or disclosing the relevant background, including the fact that the FBI had already been made aware of the allegations in the very meeting in which the charged crime occurred.
Durham concluded, “It reinforces the significance and materiality of the defendant’s lie that he made the effort to tell it on multiple occasions to two separate government agencies.”
In an incredible display of chutzpah, Sussman also apparently admitted that if he did get his way as a result of the meetings with various US government agencies, he would leak the information to The New York Times.
This week, Sussman disputed Durham in his own court motion to the judge overseeing his prosecution, claiming the only information he provided the CIA was “when Barack Obama was President.”
Special Counsel Durham filed his latest evidence after Sussman’s denial.
After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in 2017, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was installed to investigate whether Trump colluded with Russia to win the presidency.
While Mueller found no direct ties with Russia, the probe resulted in thirty-four indictments, including against several former members of the Trump campaign.
