Former FBI Attorney General James Baker, Durham’s most critical witness, told a jury in Washington, DC, about his September 2016 meeting with Sussmann, where Sussmann relayed information about Trump.
Sussmann has pleaded not guilty to one count of lying to the FBI, specifically that he falsely told Baker that he was not there on behalf of any client.
“He said he was not appearing before me on behalf of any particular customer, and that he had some worrying information related to a seemingly surreptitious communications channel between something called Alfa Bank, which he described as connected to the Kremlin in Russia. and some part of the Trump Organization in the United States, “Baker said.
The FBI investigated the Trump-Alpha information and determined in a few weeks that “there was nothing,” Baker said. One of the central theories in Durham’s case is that Sussmann tipped Baker on behalf of Clinton, but hid his campaign ties as part of a scheme to trick the FBI into investigating Trump and then into doing so. an “October surprise” in this regard. in the press.
At the bar, Baker said he “trusted” Sussmann’s claim that he was there on his own because they were friends, and that he knew Sussmann as a “serious lawyer” who worked for the Justice Department and had experience. in cybersecurity needed to understand Trump. – Alpha data.
“I thought he was coming to see me as a good citizen who had gotten some information,” Baker said. “Knowing Michael, I would think he would like to help the government.”
Baker’s testimony could give a boost to Durham, the Trump-era special prosecutor who has spent three years investigating possible misconduct in the FBI investigation between Trump and Russia. He has not delivered any of the explosive allegations Trump expected, and the Sussmann trial is the first major piece of evidence in the courtroom of his investigation, which has filed charges against three people.
But the verdict could depend on how jurors assess Baker’s credibility. Sussmann’s lawyers tried to undo it with a tortuous interrogation that revealed how Baker’s answers to key questions changed when he testified in Congress in 2018, in Department of Justice surveillance in 2019, in his numerous interviews. with Durham prosecutors and the witness. stop this week.
Defense attorney Sean Berkowitz had Baker acknowledge that it was the prosecutors who actually “activated my memory” of what happened six years ago at the Sussmann meeting. Baker said that when he met with prosecutors in recent years, they refreshed his memory by asking specific questions and showing him the notes an FBI official wrote about his conversations.
The judge ruled against the annulment of the trial
Earlier on Thursday, Judge Christopher Cooper rejected Sussmann’s request to set aside the trial.
Sussmann’s lawyers had argued on Wednesday that he could not get a fair trial because one of the witnesses suggested that Sussmann could answer a key question by declaring in his own defense, violating his constitutional rights. The witness was Marc Elias, who served as Clinton’s campaign chief attorney, and on the other hand was a relatively useful witness for Sussmann’s defense.
The prosecution called Elias to the stands, but it was the defense attorneys who encouraged him to comment. They asked if he knew if Sussmann brought the Trump-Alpha tip to Baker “on behalf of the (Clinton) campaign.” Elias replied, “You should ask Mr. Sussmann.”
Cooper ruled from the bank against an overturned trial Thursday morning, but approved Sussmann’s request to remove some of the problematic parts of Elias’ testimony from the court file.
Defense attorneys also said Sussmann has not decided whether to testify in his own defense. They are preparing to present a defense case with a handful of witnesses made and witnesses of character.
This story has been updated with additional details.