Special Counsel John Durham’s team finally got former Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias on the stand on Wednesday in the trial of his former partner, Michael Sussmann. Sussmann is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI — telling them about the debunked Alfa Bank “connections” to the Trump campaign — but denying that he was working for a client when, according to Durham, he was representing the Clinton campaign and tech executive, Rodney Joffe.
According to our previous reports, the prosecution planned to call some major names as part of its case. Marc Elias (ex-Clinton Campaign lawyer) was one such person.
Elias was called to testify on Wednesday in support of the prosecution. He said that they had been working together for Clinton’s campaign and hired Fusion GPS to find out more about President Donald Trump. He admitted to having briefed Clinton campaign staff about the new information he acquired. Elias testified also that Fusion worked for DNC regarding its work on the Clinton campaign.
Elias said that he dealt mainly with Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, but he also spoke with campaign chair John Podesta, campaign spokesperson Jennifer Palmieri, and campaign policy director Jake Sullivan, who is now Joe Biden’s national security adviser. He said that the Clinton campaign was aware that they were looking into Trump-Russia-related issues — that all four of those Clinton operatives knew as well as the cyber, tech, operations and the legal departments.
Elias said he had spoken with Hillary Clinton “infrequently” and was involved in meetings where she may have been present.
Elias stated that the Alfa Bank accusations were made public shortly before the election. It was October. Hillary Clinton also shared the false story on Twitter.
Trump must answer some serious questions regarding his Russian ties. https://t.co/D8oSmyVAR4 pic.twitter.com/07dRyEmPjX
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016
Fox News
Clinton also shared a statement from Jake Sullivan, which stated: “This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow. Computer scientists have uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.”
Sullivan said the “secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump’s ties to Russia.” [….]
Sullivan added that they “can only assume federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia’s meddling in our elections.”
The FBI was told the story by Sussmann in the last segment. This is why it’s fascinating. Elias attempted not to make it seem like Sussmann had passed the false story to FBI in October. He also tried to distance himself from the action.
“What makes an October surprise useful is not just that it comes in October, but essentially, that it comes too late in the campaign process to un-do it,” Elias said. “Usually something comes in the second half of October where the media is landing something that is both explosive and effectively too late to rebut.”
Except they can’t dispute that Sussmann did try to pass it on to the FBI.
They made an effort to communicate the information to the media as Laura Seago was questioned by the Durham team.
Laura Seago is also a Fusion employee. testifiedShe met Marc Elias and Sussmann (another Fusion colleague) to discuss the claims of communication between Alfa Bank, the Trump Organization. Then, she met with Rodney Joffe. journalist Franklin FoerThese are the allegations. He was certain to believe them, she said. would publish an article.
The judge in the Sussmann case previously concluded that Fusion didn’t just provide information to Elias.
Cooper added: “But the record before the Court establishes that Fusion did more in connection with the Alfa Bank allegations than simply provide information and analysis to Mr. Elias so that he could better advise the Campaign on defamation risk. … It is clear that Fusion employees also interacted with the press as part of an affirmative media relations effort by the Clinton Campaign.”
Elias said it was fair to say that they didn’t want the public to know that they were working with Fusion on this.
Elias was the prosecutor who showed multiple calendar entries. The work was for Clinton.
One calendar meeting invite scheduled for July 26 was sent to Sussmann and Nichols with the subject “Marc/Michael/Fusion team,” the category “Clinton,” and the expected attendees being Elias and Sussmann. A billing record authored by Sussmann said the client for that meeting was the Clinton campaign and the subject “General Political Advice,” while the description was “[redaction]M. Elias, other representatives regarding meeting [redacted]Confidential project [redaction].”
Another Aug. 12 invite from Nichols to Sussmann had the subject line “Meeting with Rodney,” with the location being Elias’s office. He claimed he didn’t recall that meeting. A billing record by Sussmann for that date listed the client as the Clinton campaign and said it was about “Confidential meetings with M. Elias, others.”
Elias claimed that he remembers meeting Joffe and having a conversation with her, but repeatedly denied his memory of exactly what. He claimed that his memory of 2016 is “very fuzzy.”
Another email from Nichols to a Lisa Patel of Neustar said, “Michael Sussmann and Marc Elias would like to set up a 30-minute telephone conference with Rodney (on his cell) for Wednesday, August 17th.” A meeting invite reflected the same, and a Sussmann billing record for the day described a “telephone conference with R. Joffe, M. Elias” and billed it to Clinton. Elias would only say that “I generally recall talking to Rodney on the phone at some point.”
He stated that he considered the work he did with Joffe, Sussmann, and Joffe in relation to Alfa-Bank claims as part of his Clinton campaign.
One point during the trial, the Sussmann lawyers did collapse when Elias asked him if Sussmann had told the FBI about Trump-Alfa Bank claims on behalf of Clinton. Elias deflected saying that they should ask Sussmann, then subsequently the prosecution brought up Sussmann’s response. Sussmann’s attorney’s claimed that violated his rights and that they were contemplating a mistrial. Judge Cooper, however, said that he was not willing to consent. So it sounds like that attempt to deflect isn’t going to work out for them.
However, the Sussmann trial will not be concluded. We now have the official admission about Trump’s efforts to get in and Clinton officials involved in this effort.
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