The fascinating thing about special counsel John Durham’s investigation is that it keeps revealing things about “Russiagate” almost incidentally, in seemingly unrelated procedural filings concerning prosecutions of process crimes.
For example, a simple conflict-of-interest statement in the case of a high-caliber lawyer charged with lying to the FBI spotlighted a Democrat plot to spy first on candidate then on President Donald Trump, while feeding scurrilous allegations against him to both the FBI and the CIA.
Back in September, Durham charged Michael Sussmann – partner in the DC law firm Perkins Coie, on retainer to the Democratic National Committee – with lying to the FBI. Sussmann allegedly fed the discredited “Alfa Bank” story to the FBI general counsel James A. Baker, claiming he was not acting on anyone’s behalf, while actually coordinating with a tech executive and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
On Friday, Durham filed an innocuously-titled Motion to Inquire into Potential Conflicts of Interest in the Sussmann case. The 13-page document pointed out that the legal firm representing Sussmann – Latham & Watkins LLP – previously represented his firm of Perkins Coie, its former partner Marc Elias, and the Clinton campaign, all in dealings with the Durham investigation.