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【中国观察2021年12月09日讯】
特别顾问约翰-达勒姆对迈克尔-苏斯曼的说法进行了回击，他说前联邦调查局总法律顾问詹姆斯-贝克破坏了特别顾问的虚假陈述起诉书。
达勒姆说，包括贝克本人在内的五名政府雇员的证据支持这一指控。
据《华盛顿考察家》报道，起诉书的依据是2016年9月19日苏斯曼和贝克之间的一次会议，会上苏斯曼驳斥了俄罗斯阿尔法银行和川普组织之间存在秘密后方渠道的说法。
达勒姆辩称，虽然苏斯曼告诉贝克他没有为任何特定的客户工作，但苏斯曼在暗中为希拉里-克林顿的竞选活动出谋划策，并向她收取服务费，同时还代表技术主管罗德尼-乔夫工作。
苏斯曼否认误导联邦调查局并不认罪。
作为推动2022年5月初的审判日期而不是检察官倾向的2022年7月底的审判日期的努力的一部分，萨斯曼的团队周一声称，上周，达勒姆的团队移交了关于贝克关于2016年会议的陈述的文件，它说。"直接与特别顾问的指控相矛盾，即苏斯曼先生肯定地告诉贝克先生，他没有代表任何客户与他会面。" 该团队指出，贝克在2019年接受司法部监察长迈克尔-霍洛维茨(Michael Horowitz)的调查员采访时，以及在2020年接受达勒姆团队采访时的摘录。
但在周二的一份法庭文件中，达勒姆的团队对这些说法进行了反击。
"他们说："正如被告从发现中了解到的那样，这两次采访都是在有关事件发生多年后进行的，贝克先生在有机会用发现中提供给被告的同时期或接近同时期的笔记来刷新他的记忆之前，就已经做出了这些陈述。"事实上，被告的动议完全忽视了贝克先生随后与特别顾问办公室进行的三次面谈的执法报告，在这些面谈中，他肯定并再次肯定了他现在对被告虚假陈述的清晰记忆"。
而在10月，达勒姆的团队公开表示，它打算传唤贝克作证以证明其案件。
"与特别顾问约翰-达勒姆团队合作的检察官周二表示，他们可能会传唤前联邦调查局总顾问詹姆斯-贝克为前民主党律师迈克尔-萨斯曼的案件作证，后者因涉嫌向联邦调查局撒谎而被起诉，"《大纪元时报》正在报道。
"在周二的状态听证会上，达勒姆检察官安德鲁-德菲利皮斯和他的团队表示，他们计划传唤现在为推特工作的贝克作证，作为起诉萨斯曼案件的一部分，"该媒体继续引用福克斯新闻和《华盛顿考察者》的报道。
苏斯曼上个月对他向联邦探员撒谎的指控表示不认罪。
早些时候，美国地区法官克里斯托弗-库珀命令政府检察官和萨斯曼的辩护律师继续他们的发现过程，这可能会持续几个月。
据《大纪元时报》报道，到目前为止，检察官已经向苏斯曼的辩护团队提供了大约6000份文件，使总数达到约8万份，并补充说。
达勒姆对苏斯曼的起诉是，他曾在高权重的帕金斯-科伊律师事务所工作过，2016年9月，他告诉贝克他没有为客户工作，当时他提供了指称川普组织与一家俄罗斯银行之间存在后道通信的说法，并作出了虚假陈述。帕金斯-科伊律师事务所长期代表民主党处理与选举有关的诉讼。
起诉书称，苏斯曼实际上是在为前国务卿希拉里-克林顿的总统竞选活动工作，并为此向她的团队以及一位技术主管收费。多份报告确认该高管为罗德尼-乔菲。
据达勒姆办公室称，文件是 "根据大陪审团向15个独立的个人、实体和组织--包括政治组织、一所大学、大学研究人员、一家调查公司和许多公司--发出的传票而转交的"。
Durham Says Evidence Shows Clinton-Linked Attorney Lied About Trump-Russia Claims
Special Counsel John Durham has fired back at the claims of Michael Sussmann who said that former FBI General Counsel James Baker undermined the special counsel’s false statements indictment.
Durham said that evidence from five government employees, including Baker himself, supports the charge.
The indictment is based on a meeting that took place between Sussman and Baker on Sept. 19, 2016, at which Sussman debunked claims that there was a secret back channel between the Russian Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization, The Washington Examiner reported.
Durham contends that while Sussmann told Baker he was not working for any particular client, Sussmann was secretly doing the bidding of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and billing his services to her, as well as working on behalf of technology executive Rodney Joffe.
Sussmann denies misleading the FBI and pleaded not guilty.
As part of its effort to push for an early May 2022 trial date instead of the late July 2022 trial date preferred by prosecutors, Sussmann’s team claimed on Monday that last week, Durham’s team handed over documents about Baker’s statements about the 2016 meeting that it said: “directly contradict the Special Counsel’s allegation that Mr. Sussmann affirmatively told Mr. Baker that he was not meeting with him on behalf of any clients.” The team pointed to excerpts of interviews Baker gave to DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz’s investigators in 2019 and to Durham’s team in 2020.
But in a court filing on Tuesday Durham’s team pushed back against the claims.
“As the defendant is aware from discovery, both of those interviews occurred years after the events in question, and Mr. Baker made these statements before he had the opportunity to refresh his recollection with contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous notes that have been provided to the defense in discovery,” they said. “Indeed, the defendant’s motion entirely ignores law enforcement reports of Mr. Baker’s subsequent three interviews with the Special Counsel’s Office in which he affirmed and then re-affirmed his now-clear recollection of the defendant’s false statement.”
And in October Durham’s team made it known that it intends to call Baker to testify to prove its case.
“Prosecutors working with special counsel John Durham’s team indicated on Tuesday they may call former FBI General Counsel James Baker to testify in the case of former Democrat attorney Michael Sussmann, who was indicted for allegedly lying to the FBI,” The Epoch Times is reporting.
“During a status hearing Tuesday, Durham prosecutor Andrew DeFilippis and his team said they plan to call Baker, who now works for Twitter, to testify as part of the case against Sussmann,” the outlet continued, citing reporting from Fox News and the Washington Examiner.
Sussman pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he lied to a federal agent.
Earlier, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered government prosecutors and Sussman’s defense attorneys to continue in their discovery process, which is likely to last for several more months.
Thus far, prosecutors have provided some 6,000 documents to Sussman’s defense team, bringing the total to around 80,000, The Epoch Times reported, adding:
Durham’s indictment against Sussmann, who previously worked for high-powered law firm Perkins Coie, is that he made false statements in September 2016 when he told Baker he wasn’t working for a client when he provided claims that alleged the existence of backchannel communications between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank. Perkins Coie has long represented the Democrat Party in election-related lawsuits.
The indictment alleges that Sussmann was actually working for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and was charging her team for it as well as a technology executive. Several reports have identified the executive as Rodney Joffee.
Documents were forwarded “in response to grand jury subpoenas issued to fifteen separate individuals, entities, and organizations—including among others, political organizations, a university, university researchers, an investigative firm, and numerous companies,” according to Durham’s office.