On Wednesday afternoon, former FBI General Counsel James Baker testified in Michael Sussmann’s trial, saying that he is “not out to get Michael,” but is simply assisting with the probe of Special Counsel John Durham, Fox News informed.
Baker is at the heart of the case.
Sussmann has been charged with lying to the FBI when he told Baker in September 2016, less than 2 months before the presidential race, that he was not working “for any client” when he demanded and held meetings where he presented “purported data and ‘white papers’ that supposedly proved a secretive communications channel” between the Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization, which has connections to the Russian government.
Durham’s team claims that Sussmann worked for two clients: the campaign of Hillary Clinton and Rodney Joffe, a technology executive.
Sussmann invoiced the Hillary Clinton campaign for his services after the meeting with Baker.
Sussmann has denied the charges against him.
During his testimony on Wednesday, Baker stated that Sussmann requested the 2016 meeting through text message on his personal cell phone on September 18, 2016.
“One night before the defendant met with the general counsel, the defendant relayed the same lies in a form of a text message sent to the general counsel’s personal cellphone,” Durham wrote in a motion in the weeks leading up to the trial.
Baker claimed that he had forgotten about the SMS discussion and discovered it earlier this year in response to a federal request.
Durham requested Baker to “search for” emails and other conversations he may indulged in with Sussmann in March, Baker said.
Baker claimed that after discovering the text conversations, he alerted the authorities “as promptly as he could” through his attorney, and that FBI investigators “came to his residence” that same afternoon.
Baker described his friendship with Sussmann as “friends” who maintained in touch, but admitted that he was “a little astonished” to receive those texts.
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