Big surprise: A jury in that liberal bastion of Washington, DC, one that likely included actual donors to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, found her lawyer, Michael Sussmann, not guilty of lying to the FBI.
Sussmann had told FBI general counsel James A. Baker that he wasn’t representing any particular client when he passed along a tip about a supposed Donald Trump “secret server” communicating with the Russians. The story was all bunk, of course, peddled by a lawyer working for Clinton who wanted to create an “October surprise” against Trump.
There are text messages of Sussmann lying to Baker about operating independently, even as he billed the Clinton campaign for his time. Baker testified under oath that Sussmann lied. But we guess it takes more than a paper trail, financial documents and eyewitnesses for a DC jury to believe a Democrat can lie.
The media will treat this as vindication for treating special counsel John Durham’s probe as a nothingburger. But Sussmann’s defense — and the fact that the jury bought it — makes this scandal even worse.
Sussmann argued that no matter what he actually said, the FBI knew he was a partisan actor. Everyone was aware he was working for the Clintons, and that this wasn’t an unbiased tip-off. And indeed his legal team introduced evidence that showed the FBI obscuring Sussmann’s involvement. Higher-ups told agents that the tip had come from an anonymous informant, or even the Department of Justice, giving it far more credence than it deserved. Why? Because they were frantic to tar Trump. FBI Director James Comey and others “cheered” on the investigation, the trial revealed.
So by professing his innocence, Sussmann proved the FBI’s guilt. The nation’s highest investigative agency acted as a partisan weapon during the 2016 campaign, using the flimsiest of dirty tricks from the Clinton campaign — the Steele dossier and the server story — to conduct wiretaps, interview Trump campaign staff and, most importantly, leak it all to the press.
The FBI’s behavior here was shameful. But — like the jury — the liberal media will see no evil. And everyone gets away with it.
