In Durham trial, former top FBI lawyer details 2016 meeting behind unsubstantiated data linking Trump to Russian bank
CBSN
Washington – When noted cyber attorney Michael Sussmann came to FBI headquarters in September 2016 to hand over now-debunked data purportedly linking Trump Tower to Russia's Alfa Bank, the FBI's general counsel, James Baker, said the information concerned him, and he viewed it as a "potential national security threat," Baker told a Washington, D.C. jury on Thursday.
Sussmann is now on trial for lying during that 2016 meeting, accused by special counsel John Durham of hiding his alleged connection to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the technology executive who provided him the data. He has pleaded not guilty and will call witnesses next week to help him mount a full defense against the single charge of lying.
Prosecutors say Sussmann's lie began the night before the meeting, on Sept. 18, 2016, when he texted Baker to request the meeting. He allegedly wrote, "I'm coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company," text messages revealed during this week's trial read. "[W]ant to help the Bureau." But Durham, who was appointed during the Trump administration to investigate accusations of misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation, alleges Sussmann came forward not to "help the Bureau," but to help two clients who had hired his law firm, Perkins Coie.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were honored at a state dinner in Paris at the Presidential Elysee Palace on Saturday, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day two days prior and the strength of the countries' long alliance.
President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.