Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee, Fusion GPS, and Perkins Coie are fighting John Durham’s efforts to compel the handing over of withheld documents, arguing their claims of attorney-client privilege should keep the records concealed.
The special counsel made the demand earlier this month in the case of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been indicted on charges of concealing his clients, the Clinton campaign and “tech executive” Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker when he pushed since-debunked claims of a secret back channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank.
Durham said in April that Fusion, the opposition research firm, “was not primarily providing or supporting expertise relating to legal advice; instead, it appears that the investigative firm’s primary, if not sole, function was to generate opposition research materials that the firm then shared widely.”
British ex-spy Christopher Steele created his discredited anti-Trump dossier after being hired by Fusion, which was itself hired by Perkins and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign. Sussmann and Elias worked for Perkins Coie at the time. Fusion pushed Alfa-Bank claims, too.
The Federal Election Commission ruled in February there was “probable cause” to believe Hillary for America and the DNC violated federal laws by “misreporting the purpose of certain disbursements” and fined them.
The FEC said the DNC paid $849,407 and the Clinton campaign paid $175,000 to Perkins Coie for what was alleged in a complaint to be “opposition research done by Fusion.” The Clinton campaign reported the purpose of all those payments as “legal services,” and the DNC reported the purpose of most of those payments as “legal and compliance consulting.”
Durham noted Fusion claims were pushed to the media, State Department, Justice Department, Congress, and elsewhere, and “these efforts resulted in numerous media articles” before and after the 2016 election. The special counsel said Fusion also drafted one of the “white papers” Sussmann gave Baker.
CIA SHOT DOWN TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION CLAIMS PUSHED BY SUSSMANN IN 2017
Sussmann accused Durham of “mounting a last-minute frontal assault on third-party assertions of attorney-client privilege and work product protection that affect what could be the production of thousands of documents, the testimony of numerous witnesses, and, most importantly, Mr. Sussmann’s fundamental defense strategy” during a Monday court filing.
Perkins said Tuesday it withheld documents “as protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product privilege claims” asserted by the DNC, Clinton campaign, and Joffe. Patrick Benedict of the firm said Elias left Perkins in September, and “records in connection with the representation” of the Clinton campaign were transferred to Elias in August.
Hillary for America also intervened Tuesday, saying it was “asserting attorney-client privilege and work protection” related to Perkins and Fusion.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook declared “one of the topics about which Perkins Coie provided legal services … to HFA involved fact-finding and research that the campaign conducted” on Trump, and Mook claimed he believed any work Perkins or Fusion did “was done for the purpose of providing legal services.”
Elias also included a redacted declaration, claiming “presidential campaigns regularly encounter offensive and defensive litigation risks in multiple ways.”
He argued the DNC and Clinton campaign “maintained a large research staff whose responsibility it was to research candidate Trump.” He said Fusion co-founders Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch said “they thought they would be a good fit if I was looking to retain a consultant to support me in representing my clients.” He claimed that “Fusion’s role was to provide consulting services” that Perkins was giving related to defamation and libel laws.
He said: “I provided Fusion direction on the research and information I thought would help me perform my job … On some occasions, Fusion’s work was distilled and incorporated into my judgments about legal issues, while in other instances, I shared the results of Fusion’s work with my clients.”
Simpson and Fritsch wrote in their 2019 book that they met with Elias on April 20, 2016, and Elias wanted “deep research on Trump.”
Fritsch told Elias, “We think you guys will really want to pay attention to the Russia angle.” Fusion wrote that “it was obvious from Elias’s reaction that the Russia element was new to him.”
“This angle was all new to Elias, and he loved it,” Fusion said, adding: “Fusion’s research team would soon be hired and given wide latitude.”
Fusion wrote, “Elias said Fusion would be reporting only to him” because “if Fusion’s communications were with a lawyer, they could be considered privileged and kept confidential.”
The special counsel said the “primary purpose” of Fusion’s work related to the Steele dossier and Alfa-Bank claims “was to assemble and publicize allegations that would aid the campaign’s public relations goals.”
Fusion urged news outlets to write about the Alfa Bank claims, with Fritsch telling a Reuters reporter to “do the f***ing alfa bank secret comms story.” A reporter for Slate also sent Fusion a draft of his Alfa-Bank story in October 2016 after Fusion told him it was “time to hurry.” The piece was published the next day, and Clinton and then-campaign adviser and current Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan touted it on Halloween 2016.
Steele’s attorneys have stated that Fusion and Steele briefed journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, CNN, Yahoo News, and Mother Jones “at Fusion’s instruction.”
Perkins said in 2017 that Fusion approached Perkins in early March 2016 to “continue research” on Trump and that Perkins hired Fusion “to perform a variety of research services during the 2016 election cycle.”
Steele testified Sussmann provided him with other claims about Alfa-Bank during a July 2016 meeting. The former MI6 agent pushed Alfa-Bank’s claims to the Justice Department and State Department.
Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence, said in 2018 that Perkins “engaged Fusion to obtain information necessary for Perkins Coie LLP to provide legal advice on the potential impact of Russian involvement on the legal validity of the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.”
Fusion had its own Tuesday filing, arguing that it “was operating as an investigative researcher to help Elias provide legal advice,” not as opposition research.
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Joffe also filed a Tuesday motion asking the judge to reject the special counsel’s efforts.
Durham said Joffe tasked employees and associates with mining and assembling internet data that would support an “inference” or “narrative” tying Trump to Russia. The tech executive’s motive was demonstrated in emails that said the goal was to please “VIPs” — apparently referring to Sussmann, Elias, and the Clinton campaign.
