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Who is Michael Sussman? Lawyer lied to FBI as Hillary Clinton paid tech firm to spy on Donald Trump

A filing from John Durham said that Clinton's presidential campaign paid a tech firm in order to 'infiltrate' Trump Tower servers and the White House

A filing from John Durham has said that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign paid a technology company in order to "infiltrate" Trump Tower servers as well as the White House. Durham, Special Counsel for the Department of Justice, has said that the infiltration's purpose was to establish a "narrative" of collusion between former president Donald Trump and Russia.

Durham was appointed by then-Attorney General William Barr. He led a review into the Russia investigation that led to charges against an FBI attorney and former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman, who was charged with making a false statement to a federal agent. Durham said in a section of the filing titled 'Factual Background that Sussman "had assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two specific clients, including a technology executive (Tech Executive 1) at a US-based internet company (Internet Company 1) and the Clinton campaign."

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Who is Michael Sussman?

Michael A Sussmann, born in 1964, is a former federal prosecutor and a former partner at the law firm Perkins Coie. In 2016, he represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and retained Crowdstrike to examine servers after WikiLeaks leaked DNC emails.

Sussmann was indicted by a grand jury in September 2021, which was empaneled by Durham's investigation. The indictment claimed that the cybersecurity attorney allegedly falsely stated that he was not working "for any client" when he presented evidence to FBI officials about communications between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia. The indictment also alleged that Sussman had been working on behalf of clients, including the Clinton campaign. In a statement, Sussmann's attorneys said that he was indicted "because of politics, not facts" and that he had only requested the FBI meeting over national security concerns.

Durham's filing

John Henry Durham, 71, is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from February 2018 to February 2021. He was tasked with investigating the origins of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections back in April 2019. He was appointed Special Counsel for the Department of Justice in 2020.

Durham earlier served as an assistant US Attorney in the District of Connecticut for as many as 35 years. He led an inquiry after FBI agents and Boston Police were accused of having ties with the Irish Mob. He is also known for his role as special prosecutor in the 2005 CIA interrogation tapes destruction. In this case, he decided not to file any criminal charges in relation to the destruction of tapes of torture at a CIA facility.

Durham's filing claimed that Sussman "repeatedly billed the Clinton Campaign for his work on the Russian Bank-1 allegations", referring to fake white papers that Sussman reportedly assembled to indicate a connection between a Russian bank and Donald Trump. According to the filing, Sussman and the tech executive also had a conversation with liberal activist lawyer Marc Elias.

"Tech Executive-1 also enlisted the assistance of researchers at a U.S.-based university who were receiving and analyzing large amounts of Internet data in connection with a pending federal government cybersecurity research contract," Durham stated. "Tech Executive-1 tasked these researchers to mine Internet data to establish 'an inference' and 'narrative' tying then-candidate Trump to Russia."

Durham also said that Tech Executive-1 worked for an Internet company that "had come to access and maintain dedicated servers" for the president's executive office. "Tech Executive-1 and his associates exploited this arrangement by mining the EOP's DNS traffic and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump," the filing claimed.

Trump responded to the news, claiming that the information provided "indisputable evidence" that Clinton spied on his campaign to "develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia." "This is a scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate and those who were involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal prosecution," Trump said.