Former top FBI lawyer James Baker to take stand in Durham’s case against Michael Sussmann
by Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter |
| October 26, 2021 02:57 PM
Prosecutors revealed the FBI's former top lawyer will take the stand in next year’s trial of Michael Sussmann, who special counsel John Durham charged with lying to the bureau in 2016 as he pushed phony claims of secret Trump-Russia communications.
Testimony from James Baker, who served as general counsel at the bureau from 2014 to 2018, could help Durham show Sussmann lied to him by saying he was not working on behalf of Hillary Clinton.
A grand jury returned an indictment last month that centers on a September 2016 meeting between the two in which Sussmann passed along false claims of covert communications between Russia’s Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization.
Although Durham alleged Sussmann told Baker he was not working for any specific client, the special counsel contends Sussmann was secretly doing the bidding Clinton’s presidential campaign while billing her team for it, as well as working on behalf of technology executive Rodney Joffe.
Word that Baker will testify came Tuesday after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper asked if the government would provide testimony about Sussmann’s exact statement to the FBI. Andrew DeFilippis, an assistant special counsel for Durham, said that Baker will be called to the stand as a witness.
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