{"id":1498920,"date":"2022-05-31T20:14:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1498920"},"modified":"2022-05-31T20:14:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:14:43","slug":"jury-that-includes-three-clinton-donors-fails-to-convict-ex-clinton-lawyer-sussmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jury-that-includes-three-clinton-donors-fails-to-convict-ex-clinton-lawyer-sussmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury That Includes Three Clinton Donors Fails to Convict Ex-Clinton Lawyer Sussmann\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjury-that-includes-three-clinton-donors-fails-to-convict-ex-clinton-lawyer-sussmann%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1498920&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>After deliberating for less than one day, the jury in the Michael Sussmann criminal case returned a not-guilty verdict today in a D.C. federal court.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding the verdict, in prosecuting Michael Sussmann for lying to former FBI General Counsel James Baker when he provided Baker data and whitepapers purporting to show a secret communication channel between the Russia-based Alfa Bank and Trump, the special counsel revealed several significant realities to the American public.<\/p>\n<p>As I <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/31\/even-if-the-jury-doesnt-convict-michael-sussmann-the-special-counsel-has-won\/\">detailed<\/a> earlier today, <em>United States v. Sussmann<\/em> exposed that Hillary Clinton holds full responsibility for the Russia collusion hoax, with her former campaign manager Robby Mook testifying she personally approved peddling the Alfa Bank tale to the media. The Sussmann prosecution also dispatched the lingering claims that a secret communication channel between Trump and Russia truly existed as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fbi-trump-russia-alfa-bank-durham-sussmann-trial\">5150,\u201d or delusional, talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even the acquittal of Sussmann will not erase these facts. So for all posterity, Clinton\u2019s fingerprints will be seen covering the worst political scandal of our country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Clinton, however, will not be the only one whose legacy will forever be tainted. The special counsel\u2019s prosecution of Sussmann likewise decimates the reputation of the legacy media.<\/p>\n<h2>The Legacy Media Was and Is a Leftist Lapdog<\/h2>\n<p>The corporate press has long demonstrated anti-conservative bias, but once it became clear Donald Trump would be the Republican challenger to Clinton in her bid for the presidency, the legacy media abandoned all semblance of journalistic integrity. The special counsel\u2019s prosecution of Sussmann, however, shined a spotlight on the self-immolation of the profession in two new ways.<\/p>\n<p>First, the prosecution of Sussmann made public email communications between the Clinton-campaign-funded Fusion GPS and prominent reporters at The New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, Yahoo! News, ABC News, and Slate. Those emails exposed the supposed journalists collaborating closely with the opposition researchers working at Fusion GPS for the Clinton campaign during the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>In one email, Fusion GPS\u2019s co-founder Peter Fritsch pushed ABC News\u2019s Matthew Mosk to run the Alfa Bank story, telling him, \u201cDude this is huge.\u201d Fritsch took a more aggressive stance with Reuter\u2019s Mark Hosenball, <a href=\"https:\/\/technofog.substack.com\/p\/transcript-the-fight-over-privileged?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyODUxMjc5OSwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTM2MDQ3NjQsIl8iOiJneVZLUiIsImlhdCI6MTY1MTc3NDU1NCwiZXhwIjoxNjUxNzc4MTU0LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjc0NzcxIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.BMpnkiln4b6guFolxC3CezSvcE6rfltvF5RfwMm91SA&#038;s=r\">venting<\/a> in a mid-October 2016 email, \u201cDo the fucking alfa bank secret comms story,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/alfa-bank-ping-russiagate\/\">telling<\/a> him, \u201cit is hugely important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Hosenball pushed back that he lacked the technical expertise to evaluate the data, Fritsch <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1526609452329312257\">told<\/a> Hosenball to \u201ccall David Dagon at Georgia Tech.\u201d Of course, thanks to the Sussmann trial, it is now public knowledge that, far from being a disinterested expert, Dagon worked with Joffe to craft the Alfa Bank tale sold to the media and the FBI. Dagon was also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/17\/emails-show-researchers-who-alleged-trump-links-to-russian-alfa-bank-were-anti-trump\/\">rabidly<\/a> anti-Trump.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/alfa-bank-ping-russiagate\/\">However<\/a>, \u201cneither Reuters nor ABC did the story then\u2014but Fusion GPS soon found someone who would\u201d when Fusion GPS\u2019s team \u201cwent to see Franklin Foer, then working for\u00a0<em>Slate<\/em>, at his home outside Washington, D.C., to brief him about the data suggesting ties between the Alfa Bank and Trump servers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Foer would later \u201cbreak\u201d the Alfa Bank story on October 31, 2016, sending Fusion GPS running back into the arms of the media pals who had previously rejected them. To Hosenball, Fusion GPS <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1526606447278178304\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cbig story on the trump Alfa server moving early pm,\u201d followed by an \u201coff the record\u201d assurance the \u201cU.S. government absolutely investigating.\u201d Fusion GPS repeated the push with Michael Isikoff at Yahoo! News.<\/p>\n<h2>Using Federal Agencies to Push Smear Campaigns<\/h2>\n<p>Fusion GPS\u2019s assurance to reporters the \u201cU.S. government absolutely investigating\u201d confirms the prosecution\u2019s theory in the Sussmann case that the then-Clinton campaign attorney took the Alfa Bank data to the FBI to bolster its credibility. This also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1526606447278178304\">counters<\/a> Sussmann\u2019s claim that the Clinton campaign did not want the FBI involved because it could delay or kill the story. The jury, however, never learned of these emails or Fusion GPS\u2019s use of the FBI\u2019s investigation\u2014prompted by Sussmann\u2014to sell the Alfa Bank story to the press.<\/p>\n<p>The emails uncovered as part of the Sussmann\u2019s prosecution extended beyond coordination between the Clinton-funded Fusion GPS and the media concerning Alfa Bank. For instance, in mid-May 2016, even before Fusion GPS hired former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS\u2019s Jake Berkowitz emailed Foer several links with introductory sentences about Carter Page, who would later star in the Steele dossier. Peter Fritsch, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, also joined in the email thread, which continued for several days with updated research on Page.<\/p>\n<p>The team effort between Fusion GPS and Foer continued, with Berkowitz on May 19, 2016, telling his Fusion GPS boss and the \u201creporter\u201d that \u201csome Merrill bond issuances during Page\u2019s tenure\u201d at the investment banking firm of Merrill Lynch involved some \u201cinteresting characters,\u201d including Alfa Bank and its founders. Foer\u2019s response to that email read as if he were a fellow Fusion GPS employee, noting he was \u201cgoing to do some work on Rick Burt,\u201d whom he bets \u201cdoes some work for the Russians.\u201d Foer then claimed in a follow-up email that Burt was on the Alfa Bank board.<\/p>\n<p>Foer later incorporated the early research he exchanged with Fusion GPS in his Slate\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/cover_story\/2016\/07\/vladimir_putin_has_a_plan_for_destroying_the_west_and_it_looks_a_lot_like.html\">piece<\/a>, \u201cVladimir Putin has a Plan for Destroying the West\u2014and It Looks a Lot Like Donald Trump,\u201d which cast Page and the Alfa-Bank-connected Burt as Russian-compromised associates of Trump. Foer was also the \u201cjournalist\u201d breaking the Alfa Bank \u201cscandal\u201d at Slate just two weeks before the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Another email thread between Fritsch and Foer focused on Sergei Millian, whom Fritsch declared was \u201cclearly kgb.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Washington Post Boosting Oppo Material<\/h2>\n<p>In addition, emails uncovered during the Sussmann prosecution revealed that during the summer and fall of 2016, Fusion GPS folks also regularly chatted with the Washington Post\u2019s Democrat scribe, Tom Hamburger. Millian was also the subject of a July 24, 2016 email in which Fusion GPS\u2019s other founder, Glenn Simpson, provided Hamburger three email addresses for Millian\u2014an apparent push for the journalist to focus on Millian as part of the Russia collusion theme.<\/p>\n<p>Fusion GPS\u2019s Fritsch also pushed Millian on The New York Times\u2019s Eric Lichtblau, telling Lichtblau in a September 27, 2016, email that Millian\u2019s \u201cRussianamericanchamber.com was using an IP address registered in Moscow and Alfa was its internet service provider.\u201d That email included several screen grabs for the Times reporter showing the supposed connection between Millian and Russia. And, of course, Millian was later framed as a sub-source in the Steele dossier.<\/p>\n<p>Other emails unearthed during the special counsel\u2019s investigation of Sussmann likewise featured Lichtblau. In fact, until late last week, Sussmann intended to call Lichtblau to testify in his defense, but Sussmann dropped the Times reporter from his witness list after prosecutors made clear they intended to question Lichtblau extensively on his communications with various sources.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Sussmann nonetheless argued to the jury that Sussmann went to Baker with the Alfa Bank \u201cintel\u201d to give the FBI a heads up that the Times would soon be running a story on the secret communications network. Emails between Lichtblau and Fusion GPS seemed to negate that theory, however, while revealing the symbiotic relationship between the Clinton campaign opposition research firm and the journalist.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, in an October 5, 2016, email thread between Fusion GPS\u2019s Fritsch and Lichtblau, Fritsch provided the Times reporter the data showing the supposed Alfa Bank connection. And when Lichtblau asked the source of the data, Fritsch replied \u201cNo idea. Our tech maven says it was first posted via Reddit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That Lichtblau saw this data for the first time only <em>after<\/em> Sussmann met with Baker strongly suggests Sussmann\u2019s excuse for sharing the \u201cintel\u201d with the FBI\u2019s general counsel\u2014to give the bureau a heads-up to the story\u2014was bunk. The October 5, 2016, email exchange with Lichtblau proves fascinating for a second reason when read in light of the two versions of the Slate article that ran on October 31, 2016, when Foer broke the Alfa Bank story.<\/p>\n<h2>Coverage Failures Cannot Be Explained Away<\/h2>\n<p>The original version of the Slate article <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1531025235625054211\">read<\/a>: \u201cIn September, the scientists tried to get the public to pay attention to their data. One of them posted a link to the logs in a Reddit thread. <strong>Soon, the <em>New York Times\u2019 <\/em>Eric Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers began chasing the story<\/strong>. (They are still pursuing it.) Lichtblau met with a Washington representative of Alfa Bank on Sept. 21, and the bank denied having any connection to Trump. (Lichtblau told me that <em>Times <\/em>policy prevents him from commenting on his reporting)\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n<p>Later that day, Slate updated the article, changing the \u201cSoon\u201d to \u201cAround the same time,\u201d and adding a note that \u201cthe article has been updated to make clear that the <em>New York Times <\/em>reporters learned of the logs independently, not from the Reddit thread.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This correction indicates that the <em>Times <\/em>reporters took umbrage at the suggestion they had chased a story based on a Reddit thread and sought a clarification from Slate. But the emails uncovered during the Sussmann investigation reveal a scenario that seems even more hack-ish: The Times reporters didn\u2019t even uncover the Reddit thread through their own investigation, but had the data handed to them by the Clinton campaign-funded opposition research firm of Fusion GPS while being told it emanated from Reddit.<\/p>\n<p>While the legacy media might slough off these emails as revealing nothing but them working friendly sources, the corporate media\u2019s failure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/sussmann-trial-abc-nbc-cbs-msnbc-trump-russia\">cover<\/a> the special counsel\u2019s prosecution of the Clinton campaign\u2019s former attorney cannot be explained away. Rather, it provides proof that when reporters abandoned the last vestiges of journalistic integrity to crush Trump, they instead destroyed themselves. Watch for further proof of this when the corrupt media provides more coverage of the not-guilty verdict than the entire two-week trial that proceeded it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After deliberating for less than one day, the jury in the Michael Sussmann criminal case returned a not-guilty verdict today in a D.C. federal court. Notwithstanding the verdict, in prosecuting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1498920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1498920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1498920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}