Attorney Michael Sussmann, who represented Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, filed a motion claiming "extraordinary prosecutorial overreach" by John Durham.
Sussmann's lawyers wrote on Feb. 17 that under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3)(B) the single count in the Indictment "fails to state an offense" and that he, therefore, respectfully requests dismissal of the charges against him. Former Perkins Coie lawyer plead not guilty to charges of lying to FBI.
Last year, Durham alleged Sussmann had told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker, who now works for Twitter, in September 2016 that he wasn’t working for any client when he met with Baker to hand over debunked information that connected the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.
Durham filed a motion Feb. 12 alleging that Rodney Joffe, a technology executive identified in news reports as being associated with the Trump campaign, had electronic access to the White House and Trump's residences. Sussmann also pleaded guilty to assembling and providing the FBI with the allegations in behalf of at least two specific clients, including [Joffe] at Internet Company 1 in the U.S. and the Clinton campaign.
“It has long been a crime to make a false statement to the government. But the law criminalizes only false statements that are material—false statements that matter because they can actually affect a specific decision of the government,” Sussmann’s lawyers said in their motion.
Previously, people have been prosecuted for providing tips to federal agents. According to the attorneys, this occurred only in instances where the tip itself was allegedly false, since it affects the specific decision to open an investigation.
18 Feb 2022
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