(FreedomBeacon.com)- Over the weekend, the judge overseeing the trial of former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann ruled that Special Counsel John Durham can introduce some of the email evidence regarding the spread of the “Russian collusion” hoax, but excluded other emails showing the existence of a criminal conspiracy involving the Clinton presidential campaign.
Michael Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI by concealing his connection to the Clinton campaign when he presented so-called “evidence” linking Donald Trump to Russia’s Alfa Bank.
In excluding some of the evidence, US District Judge Christopher Cooper said Durham’s efforts to link Sussmann to a larger plot would “essentially amount to a second trial” for conspiracy, a crime that has not been alleged in this case.
While some have criticized the judge’s decision, accusing him of protecting Hillary Clinton, it could also be said that Judge Cooper’s decision could hint that Durham has the evidence to charge Sussmann with criminal conspiracy.
Cooper explained in his decision that Sussmann is charged with the specific crime of lying to the FBI. Introducing evidence of conspiracy would likely distract from the charges in the case and confuse the jury.
The judge, however, ruled that prosecutors will be permitted to introduce emails of Fusion GPS disseminating the Alfa Bank allegations to the press.
Durham had previously requested that 2016 tweets from Hillary Clinton be introduced as evidence in Sussmann’s trial to show that the Clinton campaign was also involved in the conspiracy to spread the false Alfa-Bank allegations. However, Judge Cooper ruled that Hillary’s tweets were hearsay.
Judge Cooper also granted Durham’s request to present evidence outlining how the Alfa Bank data was compiled, who was involved in its collection, how Michael Sussmann came into possession of the data, and what he did with the data once he received it.
The defense, meanwhile, failed in its attempt to force the prosecution to grant immunity to tech executive Rodney Joffe so Joffe could testify in Sussmann’s defense.
The Federalist’s Margo Cleveland, who has been covering the Sussmann case extensively, provides a great write-up of Judge Cooper’s weekend rulings.
Read that HERE.
