Trial testimony presented Friday against a former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer may lead to charges against the failed presidential candidate.
Michael Sussman, a campaign lawyer for the former First Lady, is being tried in a Washington, D.C., federal court on a sole count of lying to the FBI. Sussman (and Clinton) probably regrets his attorney calling upon her former campaign manager to testify on his behalf.
Defense witness Robby Mook, campaign manager for Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid, said she signed off on peddling election disinformation. Mook testified during cross examination that Clinton authorized disseminating information alleging covert communications between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank to the media. The former campaign manager swore she approved despite campaign officials not being “totally confident” in the legitimacy of the data.
According to a Fox News report, Mook was questioned about the campaign’s understanding of the allegations against Trump concerning the Alfa Bank and whether they planned to release the data to the media. He told prosecutors he was first briefed about the issue by campaign general counsel Marc Elias, a partner at the law firm Perkins Coie.
Mook testified the campaign had doubts about the data’s legitimacy but intended to provide it to a reporter who could “run it down” to determine if it was “substantive” or accurate, the report noted. Senior campaign officials, including campaign chairman John Podesta, senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan and communications director Jennifer Palmieri reportedly discussed whether to give the information to a reporter. Sullivan currently serves as the White House National Security Adviser.
“I discussed it with Hillary as well,” Mook testified, adding he didn’t remember the whole conversation. He explained the gist of the conversation involved whether to share the data with a reporter.
Prosecutors asked Mook if Clinton approved providing the data to media.
“She agreed,” he responded.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
