Daniel Chaitin of the Washington Examiner reports a former top cop’s response to the Spygate investigation.
Former Attorney General William Barr said he believes special counsel John Durham is uncovering “seditious” activity.
The trial of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann has shown how Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and its allies spread theories tying rival Donald Trump to Russia in the final months of the election, providing evidence for those who have long argued there was a so-called Russiagate plot to undermine Trump’s candidacy and later his presidency.
This Alfa-Bank matter tied to the Clinton team may not have spurred the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s links to Russia, but Barr said he accepted the chance to become attorney general, his second stint, because he believed a “constitutional crisis” was afoot. Barr took charge of the Justice Department in February 2019, overseeing the roll-out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia findings, and appointed Durham to investigate the origins and conduct of the Russia inquiry, dubbed a “witch hunt” by Trump.
“I think whatever you think of Trump, the fact is that the whole Russiagate thing was a grave injustice. It appears to be a dirty political trick that was used first to hobble him and then potentially to drive him from office,” Barr told BlazeTV host Glenn Beck in a recent episode of his podcast.
Barr also said, “I believe it is seditious,” but he stressed criminality would have to be determined in court.
Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI about whom he was representing when, in September 2016, he presented internet data that suggested a now-discredited link between Trump and a Russian bank. In particular, Sussmann was indicted for allegedly concealing his clients — Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Executive-1,” known to be former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe — from FBI general counsel James Baker. Sussmann denies lying to the FBI and has pleaded not guilty.
