That represented the first clear connection to Clinton, who has long portrayed herself as an innocent bystander, simply sharing what she had seen in the news. But while she personally accepted giving the Alfa Bank account to reporters, the next question was whether she also authorized its transmission to the FBI?
That’s where Michael Sussmann enters the picture. When he brought the fake information to the FBI, he denied working for any client, yet John Durham produced paper records showing that he had charged Clinton for a “confidential project” on the same day.
“The jury was given the billing records of Michael Sussmann, which prosecutors said provide proof that he billed the Clinton campaign for a meeting with then-FBI counsel James Baker, where he disclosed claims of a communications channel with the Russia’s Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization. “
“Kori Arsenault was the prosecution’s final witness, a paralegal in John Durham’s office. Kori Arsenault was involved in the preparation of a lot of the government’s exhibits and assisted in their explanation to the jury.”
This week, “The prosecution presented the evidence from Perkins Coie, which they say demonstrates that the firm billed “Hillary for America” for Michael Sussmann meeting with James Baker at the FBI headquarters on Sept. 19, 2016.”
The bill was also dated Sept. 19, 2016 and said that the Clinton campaign was the client, with a time of 3.3 hours listed and the phrase “communications and work regarding the confidential project.”
This strongly implies that Sussmann was employed by Clinton when he went to the FBI. The invoice is for a specific duration on the same day as the meeting in question. That would seem to suggest that he lied to then-General Counsel James Baker, claiming to be a concerned third party rather than a political operative. It also shows that rather than simply allowing her campaign’s false story to go out to the media and the FBI, Clinton herself, as the leader of her campaign, approved it.
