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Sussmann indictment: "Bizarre coda," or harbinger of deep-state exposure?
20 Sep 2021 ~~ By Ed MorrisseyJust what does the indictment of Michael Sussmann portend? MSNBCās Barbara McQuade called it a ābizarre codaā to John Durhamās investigation, which seems to be the most unlikely bet on this last-minute action by the special counsel. To get there, McQuade tries to shift focus to an early-on debunked part of the overall-debunked Russia-collusion theory, and overlooks Sussmannās links at the same time:
It is hard to see how the case Durham filed on Thursday against Washington lawyer Michael Sussmann meets Justice Department standards. The indictment alleges that Sussmann met with FBI General Counsel Jim Baker in September 2016 to provide information about connections between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization. The FBI was unable to substantiate any links between Alfa Bank and former President Donald Trumpās businesses, but the charge against Sussman ā making false statements to the FBI ā doesnāt allege that the substance of the information was false. Instead, Sussman is accused of having misrepresented on whose behalf he was providing it.
Well, yes, and that misrepresentation turned out to be highly material. Sussmann at the time represented the DNC and had been providing assistance to the Hillary Clinton campaign, a connection that Sussmnan kept hidden from the FBI. Sussmann passed along the rumor that Vladimir Putin-connected Alfa Bank had a server dedicated to Donald Trumpās finances to Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, which had the effect of laundering that claim right back into the Steele dossier. He also passed that information to the FBI, without informing agents that he was working for Trumpās opponent at the time, as the indictment alleges:

This isnāt just a game of ātelephoneā gone wrong, as McQuade later argues. It smells of a deliberate political dirty trick that worked far too well, tying the nation up for two years in a pointless hysteria over supposed Russian collusion. The allegation that Sussmann deliberately lied points to a larger argument that the Clinton campaign and DNC may have cooked the whole thing up ā perhaps with the participation of the FBI, or at least a handful of its agents.
Also, the fact that Durham got this indictment under the statute-of-limitations wire tells Andrew McCarthy that more is afoot here than a coda. The indictment itself has so much detail, McCarthy wrote over the weekend, that it makes clear Durham has a broader story to tell in his future actions:
~Snip~
Clearly, more is happening than a mop-up for Durham. It seems highly unlikely that Durham would have bothered with this 18 USC 1001 violation if it only amounted to a ācoda.ā That doesnāt mean that Durham will be able to secure any more indictments, nor does it mean that Durham can get Sussmann to flip on his former clients, but Durham almost certainly has a bigger story to tell. When he does, will the media exert anywhere near the same energy to highlight it as they put into the Russia-collusion hoax in the first place? You donāt need to stay tuned to know the answer to that question ⦠but stay tuned as well for that anyway.
Comment:
FBI notes appear to suggest that as vice president, Joey Xi Biden played a role in the Democratic Party project to smear Trump as a Russian asset by raising the obscure, disused, 18th century statute the Logan Act as a possible vehicle for prosecuting Michael Flynn for speaking with the Russian ambassador to Washington ā even after FBI case agents had cleared Trump's incoming national security adviser of wrongdoing.
Unfortunately, we see the Quisling Media ignoring this and when forced to talk the story will be how (Durham) is lying.
If, big if, anyone is convicted the media will downplay it as a rouge element in the DOJ.
Sussman is the appetizer, Hillary is the main course. The side dishes will be Marc Elias and Perkins-Coie. Both are chest deep in this quagmire.