Lawyer indicted in Durham probe asks court to dismiss charge
By John Kruzel - 02/17/22 12:57 PM EST
A lawyer who faces a criminal charge stemming from special counsel John Durham's probe into the FBI's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign on Thursday asked a federal judge to dismiss the case against him.
Michael Sussmann requested the dismissal of his single criminal count of making a false statement to the FBI, calling it in court papers “a case of extraordinary prosecutorial overreach.”
“Allowing this case to go forward would risk criminalizing ordinary conduct, raise First Amendment concerns, dissuade honest citizens from coming forward with tips, and chill the advocacy of lawyers who interact with the government,” Sussmann argued in a 29-page motion to dismiss filed in a Washington, D.C.-based federal court.
Sussmann, a national security attorney, pleaded not guilty following his indictment in September accusing him of lying during a 2016 meeting with a top FBI lawyer concerning the Trump Organization’s alleged links to a Russian bank.
Durham has alleged that Sussmann hid his relationship with the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — the main political rival of then-candidate Trump — when he presented the FBI with findings from a cybersecurity firm alleging suspicious internet activity between Trump’s business and the Russian bank.
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https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/594749-lawyer-at-center-of-durham-probe-asks-court-to-dismiss-criminal