DC Jury Finds Clinton Lawyer Michael Sussmann Not Guilty of Making A False Statement To The FBI
Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann caught a lucky break and was acquitted Tuesday of lying to the FBI. The Washington, DC, federal jury deliberated for six hours over the course of two days before reaching the shocking verdict.
Or maybe not so shocking when you consider the political aspects of this case and the political leanings of the populace of Washington.
This is the first trial of special counsel John Durham’s investigation. Durham claimed Sussmann lied during a 2016 meeting that passed along what we now know was a smear from Hillary’s campaign against former President Donald Trump.
Sussmann was charged with one felony count of making a false statement to the FBI. The 12-member jury was made up of seven women and five men.
Not guilty verdict on the single false-statement count after only about six hours of deliberations over two days. https://t.co/gcLrU9a78P
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) May 31, 2022
They deliberated for close to four hours Friday before leaving for the three-day weekend.
“It wasn’t about national security,” prosecutor Jonathan Algor told the jury.
“It was about promoting opposition research about the opposition candidate, Donald Trump.”
“The time for political conspiracy theories is over,” defense attorney Sean Berkowitz said during closing arguments.
“The time to talk about the evidence is now.”
“Any piece of evidence that doesn’t fit their tunnel-vision theory, they ignore,” Berkowitz said.
“Opposition research is not illegal,” Berkowitz said. “If it were, the jails of Washington, DC, would be teeming over.”
NEW: The jury finds Michael Sussmann NOT guilty of making a false statement to the FBI…
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) May 31, 2022