The trial is being held in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Christopher Cooper.
Mook: Clinton agreed to take Trump-Alfa Bank story to press though campaign not ‘totally confident’
JUST THE NEWS | By Natalia Mittelstadt | March 20, 2022
Former 2016 Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Friday in the trial former campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann that nominee Hillary Clinton approved of taking the covert Trump Organization-Alfa Bank allegation to the press.
The trial of Sussmann, a 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer, began its fifth day on Friday, with his defense lawyers cross-examining prosecution witness former FBI General Counsel James Baker for a second day, followed by the defense bringing its first witness, Mook, out of turn.
Special Counsel John Durham last year charged Sussmann with lying to the FBI when he allegedly told Baker that he was not working on behalf of any client while providing him with since-debunked allegations about a secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank.
Durham says Sussmann was working at the time on behalf of two clients, the Clinton campaign and then-Neustar tech firm executive Rodney Joffe.
Sussmann is pleading not guilty to the charge. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Mook, who is a witness for the defense, gave his testimony during the prosecution’s case due to scheduling conflicts. He testified during cross-examination that Clinton approved of going to the media with the allegation of a secret hotline linking the Trump Organization with Alfa Bank.
The former Clinton campaign manager said he then authorized a campaign staffer to go to the press with the story. Mook admitted that the campaign wasn’t “totally confident” in the allegation and decided to give the information to a reporter so they could look into it and decide whether or not to publish it. He claimed that he didn’t view this as an “October surprise,” a term that he called a “myth.”
Mook said that he learned of the allegation from Perkins Coie law partner Mark Elias, whom the campaign had retained as outside general counsel.
Sussmann’s lawyer Sean Berkowitz also questioned Baker on Friday about the notes of then-Assistant Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, Bill Priestap and then-FBI Principal Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson regarding Baker’s meeting with Sussmann.
The defense’s cross-examination of Baker on Thursday ended with him saying that Durham didn’t threaten him with a charge of lying to the FBI.
