Special Counsel John Durham asserted in a court filing Friday that the CIA concluded data from Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann alleging coordination between Donald Trump and Russia was “not technically plausible” and was “user created.”
In the filing, Durham responded to objections from Sussmann’s defense regarding what evidence could be admissible at Sussmann’s trial, which is scheduled to begin next month. Sussmann is accused of lying to the FBI by saying he was not attending a meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually presenting the information on behalf of the HIllary Clinton campaign and a technology executive with whom he worked.
Durham in February first revealed that the government would establish during trial that among the data “exploited” was domain name system (DNS) internet traffic pertaining to “a particular healthcare provider, Trump Tower, Donald Trump’s Central Park West apartment building, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP).”
In February, Durham said data was exploited “by mining the EOP’s DNS traffic and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump,” adding the data was used to establish “an inference” and “narrative” tying Trump to Russia.
But Sussmann is moving to preclude evidence concerning the “gathering” of that “DNS data” by “Tech Executive 1,” who has been identified as Rodney Joffe, and his associates.
In Friday’s filing, Durham argued that the gathering of the data is a “necessary factual backdrop to the charged conduct.”
Durham’s original indictment alleges Sussmann told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 — less than two months before the 2016 presidential election — he was not doing work “for any client” when he requested and held a meeting where he presented “purported data and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel” between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Kremlin.
The indictment alleges that Sussmann lied in the meeting, “falsely stating to the general counsel that he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client.”
Sussmann has pleaded not guilty and has sought to dismiss the case. The federal judge presiding over the case denied that request this week.
Durham also alleges that Sussmann in February 2017 provided an “updated set of allegations,” including the Alfa Bank claims, and additional allegations related to Trump to a second U.S. government agency, which Fox News has confirmed was the CIA.
In his filing Friday, Durham says the government expects to “adduce evidence at trial” that will reflect that the FBI and the CIA “concluded that the Russian Bank 1 allegations were untrue and unsupported.
“For example, while the FBI did not reach an ultimate conclusion regarding the data’s accuracy or whether it might have been in whole or in part genuine, spoofed, altered, or fabricated, Agency 2 concluded in early 2017 that the Russian Bank 1 data and Russian Phone Provider 1 data was not ‘technically plausible,’ did not ‘withstand technical scrutiny,’ ‘contained gaps,’ ‘conflicted with [itself],’ and was ‘user created and not machine/tool generated,” Durham wrote.
However, Durham states that “the Special Counsel’s Office has not reached a definitive conclusion in this regard.”
But Durham argued that “separate and apart from whether the data was actually unreliable or provided a motive” for Sussmann to lie, evidence concerning the steps the FBI and CIA took to “investigate these matters is critical to establishing materiality.”
Durham said that information will “enable the jury to evaluate those steps, which, in turn, will inform their conclusions about whether the defendant’s alleged false statement was material and could tend to influence or impair government functions.”