Political | Process

Sussmann, a former Perkins Coie lawyer who represented the Democratic National Committee when it was hacked in 2016, was acquitted after a two week trial in May after being charged with lying to the FBI about who he was representing when, in September 2016, he pushed claims of a since-debunked link between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank.

He was indicted on a single false statements charge of concealing his clients, Clinton’s campaign and Neustar executive Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker.

Sussmann denied lying to the FBI and pleaded not guilty. The jury agreed. He did not take the stand in his own defense.

Sussmann had worked at the Justice Department in the past, and testimony from Baker last week stated that he had a badge that allowed him access to the FBI.

Both prosecution and defense accused each other of “magic tricks” during closing arguments, with the prosecution saying Sussmann was trying to make his crime disappear after the defense team argued Durham was trying to conjure up a crime.

After closing arguments Friday, the jury began its deliberations, which picked back up after Memorial Day weekend.

The prosecution entered into evidence a host of billing records attempting to show Sussmann repeatedly billed his work on the Alfa-Bank allegations to the Clinton campaign.

British ex-spy Christopher Steele created his discredited dossier on Trump after being hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign, with whom Sussmann worked closely in 2016.

Durham’s team also presented evidence last week showing Sussmann billed Clinton’s campaign for the thumb drives he used to push the allegations to the FBI in 2016. Fusion also drafted one of the “white papers” Sussmann gave Baker. Sussmann met with Steele and with Fusion in 2016.