Hillary's lawyer in deep poo as Durham investigation reveals that he lied to the FBI

Michael Sussmann is facing trial in May for one count of lying to the FBI, like Mike Flynn who may have been tricked into doing the same. For Flynn, a Trump ally, the DOJ recommended he serve 6 months in prison but was pardoned by then-President Trump. If found guilty, it will be interesting to see if Sussmann serves any time.

John Durham's team claims that Sussmann brought data about an alleged connection between Trump and Alfa Bank to James A. Baker at the FBI in 2016. 

Flynn's lie was that he said that he had not spoken to his Russian counterpart, which he did and is actually part of the job he had. 

So Sussmann's lie was to damage Trump, while Flynn's was just stupid but not as bad as Sussmann's, Hillary Clinton's former lawyer.

Sussmann (allegedly) claimed that he was providing the FBI with material as a citizen, not on behalf of his client, Hillary Clinton. Beyond the fact that he lied, Sussmann even billed the campaign for the meeting with the FBI--that's as smart as Jussie Smollett writing a check to his MAGA "attackers."

Sussmann’s own attorneys denied that he lied to the FBI but starting in February they also made an alternative argument. Even if Sussmann had lied to the FBI, that lie would have been “ancillary” and therefore immaterial. This is known as "flip-flopping."

“It has long been a crime to make a false statement to the government. But the law criminalizes only false statements that are material—false statements that matter because they can actually affect a specific decision of the government,” the lawyers wrote, adding that, by contrast, false statements “about ancillary matters” are “immaterial and cannot give rise to criminal liability.”

The flip-flopping may have come from Durham's team revealing that they had a text message sent to James A. Baker at the FBI on the night before they met. So, on September 18, 2016 at 7:24 p.m., the night before they met, Sussmann put his lie in writing and sent the following message to the General Counsel's cellphone:

Jim — It’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company – want to help the Bureau. Thanks. 

The FBI General Counsel responded: “Ok. I will find a time. What might work for you?”

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Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is back in the news telling lies of her own, lie such as: Joe Biden is a great president.

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McCain disses Trump in Europe

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is talking trash about our president to a security conference in Munich. 

McCain, a vocal critic of Trump said the president's administration was in "disarray" and that the NATO alliance will be alarmed by his administration's growing inability of "separating truth from lies." He explained that the forced resignation of Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, shows there are serious problems in the administration. 

Flynn was asked to resign as National Security Adviser due to his having communication with a Russian diplomat and lying about it to VP Pence. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton also had face-to-face talks with the Russians and the press did not discuss it.

"I think that the Flynn issue obviously is something that shows that in many respects this administration is in disarray and they've got a lot of work to do," he inappropriately told the Europeans. "The president, I think, makes statements [and] on other occasions contradicts himself. So we've learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says," McCain said.

The US senator spoke of a shift away from "universal values" in the United States and Europe, which forged a NATO alliance. He said the founders of NATO would be "alarmed by the growing inability, and even unwillingness, to separate truth from lies." 

The truth is, however, the NATO alliance is obsolete, as it was designed to deal with the Soviet Union, which is no longer in existence. But that's a different story.

McCain, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that "more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent."

Although Europe appears uncomfortable with Trump's international policy statements, both Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have eased concerns by expressing a more traditional stance at a meeting of G20 countries in Bonn..

Vice President Mike Pence is to address the Munich conference on Saturday and is expected to reassure Europe that it's an indispensable American partner.

Hopefully, McCain will refrain from 'bad-mouthing' our administration when he is outside the country--he sounds too much like a previous president who couldn't help himself from doing the same thing.



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Trump meets the spook agency

Langley, VA -- Vice President Pence introduced President Donald Trump at the CIA Headquarters at Langley, Virginia at 3:19 p.m. 

When he appeared, Mr. Trump got a loud round of applause from the crowd. This was his first official stop and it seemed to be appreciated.

He said that nobody feels more strongly about the CIA than him. "I am so behind you. And i'm going to give you so much backing and you're gonna say 'we don't need so much backing' which made the crowd laugh at the remark that was remarkably similar to the "Win, win, win" remark he made on the campaign trail. 

He believed that almost everyone in the room voted for him, "because [we're] on the same wavelength," he said. 

"We have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice. Radical Islamic terrorism has to be eradicated--this is evil, this is evil." This drew loud applause and positive shouts of approval.

He introduced Gen. Mike Flynn and Reince Priebus who were with him, and spoke of Mattis and Kelly who were approved for the cabinet positions. 

Trump also mentioned that Mike Pompeo didn't get confirmed yet for the CIA position because of the politics involved, but that Pompeo is a great choice to head the agency explaining that he was first in his class at West Point and excels at everything he does.

He spoke about the media and how they lie about him. For example, he said the media reported that only about 250,000 people showed up for his inauguration speech on Friday but he believes it was more like a million and a half, which led him to speak about other media mistreatment he received.

It was all rather trivial talk that we've heard before.

He told the CIA "I love you, I respect you; there's no one I respect more. We're going to be leading again and you're going to be leading the charge."

I suspect he was being hyperbolic, as usual, about respecting them more than anyone else.

It seems to me that President Trump is attempting to repair the past in terms of how he went against our intelligence community when it came to the Russian hacking. 

It was a smart move.



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