(RepublicanInformer.com)- Despite special counsel John Durham’s efforts, Hillary Clinton’s tweet praising Trump-Russia connection accusations will not be accepted as evidence in the trial of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
Clinton Tweeted on Halloween in 2016 that the Donald Trump organization had a hidden server that communicated discreetly with a Russian bank linked to Putin, which was discovered by computer scientists.
She also Tweeted a lengthy statement from Jake Sullivan, a former Clinton campaign aide who is now President Joe Biden’s national security adviser. The statement claimed it was the most direct link between Donald Trump and Moscow and that he assumed a federal investigation would be started over it.
Durham’s attempt to introduce the tweet at trial was disallowed on Wednesday by an Obama-appointed Judge, Christopher Cooper. He said the court would exclude it as hearsay because it’s likely duplicative of other evidence relevant to proving the attorney-client relationship.
Sussmann was indicted in September for allegedly hiding his clients from FBI general counsel James Baker when he promoted since-debunked claims of a hidden back channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. Sussmann entered a not-guilty plea.
Durham had earlier this month told a federal judge that he wanted the Clinton campaign’s October 2016 tweet pushing the Alfa-Bank allegations to be allowed as evidence at the May trial.
The tweet is not inadmissible hearsay, according to the special counsel, since it is not being submitted for its veracity. Durham claimed he intended to reveal the tweet to demonstrate the defendant’s attorney-client relationship with the Clinton Campaign, which is directly relevant to the false statement accusation.
The Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI, CIA, and the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee probe have also questioned or dismissed the Alfa-Bank allegations.
Sussmann’s lawyers argued there is no evidence that Mr. Sussmann’s meeting with Mr. Baker had anything to do with the Clinton Campaign’s broader media strategy.
However, Durham specified that in the months leading to the publication of the articles, the defendant had communicated with the media and provided them with the Russian Bank’s data and allegations. Further, the defendant had kept Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias informed of his efforts. And Elias communicated with the Campaign’s leadership about potential media coverage.
The evidence at trial, according to the special counsel, will show that beginning in late July 2016, Sussmann and “agents of the Clinton campaign” were assembling and disseminating the Russian Bank allegations and other derogatory information about Trump and his associates to the media and the United States government. Durham claims vidence will show that these activities amounted to a cooperative endeavor.
