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Durham probe: Judge denies Sussmann motion to dismiss case; trial to begin next month

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The federal decide presiding over the case of former Clinton marketing campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann denied his request to dismiss the case introduced in opposition to him by Particular Counsel John Durham Wednesday, ordering that the trial go ahead as deliberate subsequent month.

Sussmann, in February, filed a movement to dismiss the case in opposition to him. Sussmann was charged with making a false assertion to a federal agent, and has pleaded not responsible.

DURHAM RELEASES FORMER CLINTON LAWYER MICHAEL SUSSMANN’S TEXT MESSAGE, SAYS HE PUT ‘LIE IN WRITING’

In a courtroom submitting Wednesday, U.S. District Decide Christopher Cooper outlined the costs in opposition to Sussmann introduced by the Durham impaneled grand jury final 12 months.

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Cooper detailed Durham’s indictment, which alleges that Sussmann instructed then-FBI Normal Counsel James Baker in September 2016, lower than two months earlier than the 2016 presidential election, that he was not doing work “for any shopper” when he requested and held a gathering through which he offered “purported knowledge and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel” between the Trump Group and Alfa Financial institution, which has ties to the Kremlin.

John Durham and Michael Sussmann
(Sussman pic: Perkins Coie)

“Particularly, Sussmann allegedly instructed Baker that he was not attending the assembly on behalf of any shopper when, in truth, he had assembled and was conveying the data on behalf of two particular purchasers: (1) a technology-industry government named Rodney Joffe and (2) the Hillary Clinton presidential marketing campaign,” Cooper wrote.

DURHAM PROBE: JUDGE REJECTS SUSSMANN REQUEST TO ‘STRIKE’ SPECIAL COUNSEL’S ‘FACTUAL BACKGROUND’

“The FBI opened an investigation primarily based on the data Sussmann supplied, however finally decided that there was inadequate proof to assist the existence of a communication channel between the Trump marketing campaign and the Russian financial institution,” Cooper wrote. “Sussmann has pled not responsible to the cost and denies mendacity to the FBI.” 

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Cooper wrote that Sussmann’s “sole argument for dismissal” of his case is that “even taking the allegations within the Indictment as true, his purported misrepresentation to Baker was immaterial as a matter of regulation and subsequently can’t assist a conviction” beneath U.S.C. 1001 – making false statements to a federal agent.

“The courtroom will deny the movement,” Cooper wrote, noting that the usual for materiality beneath U.S. code is “whether or not the assertion has ‘a pure tendency to affect, or is able to influencing, both a discrete choice or every other operate of the [government] company to which it was addressed.’”

CLINTON CAMPAIGN LAWYER SUSSMANN FILES MOTION TO DISMISS DURHAM PROSECUTION

Cooper explains that Sussmann argued that his alleged assertion to Baker – that he was not on the assembly on behalf of a shopper – “couldn’t have presumably influenced what was, in his view, the one ‘discrete choice’ earlier than the Bureau on the time: whether or not to provoke an investigation into the Trump marketing campaign’s asserted communications with the Russian financial institution.”

Cooper mentioned that Sussmann “largely ignores the second a part of the check: whether or not the assertion may affect ‘every other operate’ of the company.”

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“Sussmann seeks to cabin this holding to statements made throughout the course of an ongoing investigation, however the Courtroom sees no foundation for that bright-line divide,” Cooper wrote. “Because the Particular Counsel argues, it’s a minimum of doable that statements made to regulation enforcement previous to an investigation may materially affect the later trajectory of the investigation. Sussmann affords no authorized authority on the contrary.”

Cooper notes that whether or not Sussmann’s alleged assertion “was in truth able to influencing both the graduation or the later conduct of the FBI’s investigation is a really completely different query, and one which the events hotly dispute.”

“The battle traces thus are drawn, however the Courtroom can’t resolve this standoff previous to trial,” Cooper wrote.

In the meantime, Cooper, final month, rejected Sussmann’s movement to “strike” a “factual background” part in a Durham submitting in February. 

Sussmann’s authorized workforce filed that movement in February demanding that the courtroom “strike” parts of Durham’s Feb. 11 submitting, together with the “Factual Background” part, claiming it will “taint” a jury pool.

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“I’m not going to strike something from the file,” Cooper mentioned throughout a standing listening to final month. “No matter impact the submitting has had has already handed.”

Durham, within the Feb. 11 submitting with the “Factual Background” in query, alleged Sussmann supplied two U.S. authorities businesses with info from a tech government that tried to tie Donald Trump, who was a presidential candidate on the time, to Russia-based Alfa Financial institution. 

The tech government has since recognized himself as Rodney Joffe. Joffe will not be named in Durham’s submitting and has not been charged with a criminal offense.

Durham alleged that Sussmann, Joffe and Joffe’s associates “exploited” web visitors a few “specific healthcare supplier,” Trump Tower, Trump’s Central Park West residence constructing and the Govt Workplace of the President of the USA with a view to “set up ‘an inference’ and ‘narrative’” tying Trump to Russia.

Durham alleges Sussmann’s “billing data mirror” that he “repeatedly billed the Clinton marketing campaign for his work” on the Alfa Financial institution allegations.

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U.S. Attorney John Durham outside federal court in New Haven, Connecticut.

U.S. Lawyer John Durham exterior federal courtroom in New Haven, Connecticut.
( Bob MacDonnell/Hartford Courant/Tribune Information Service through Getty Photos)

Sussmann’s authorized workforce, in its movement to “strike” the allegations, mentioned Durham had “finished greater than merely file a doc figuring out potential conflicts of curiosity.”

“Moderately, the particular counsel has once more made a submitting on this case that unnecessarily contains prejudicial – and false – allegations which are irrelevant to his movement and to the charged offense, and are plainly meant to politicize this case, inflame media protection and taint the jury pool,” Sussmann’s attorneys mentioned.

In a separate movement, Durham argued there was “no foundation” to “strike” any a part of his submitting and pushed again in opposition to claims that his workplace “deliberately sought to politicize” the case. He defended the “further factual element” he included, which he argued is “central to proving” Sussmann’s “alleged legal conduct.” 

Whereas he didn’t grant Sussmann’s movement to strike, Decide Cooper on Thursday appeared to criticize the prosecution, saying the most recent “dust-up” strikes him “as a sideshow.”

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Sussmann’s trial is about to start on Might 16.

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Trump says 'biggest problem' not Biden's age, 'decline,' but his policies in first appearance since debate

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Trump says 'biggest problem' not Biden's age, 'decline,' but his policies in first appearance since debate

At former President Trump’s first rally since the presidential debate, he argued the nation’s “biggest problem” is not President Biden’s age and “decline,” but his destructive policies.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday, Trump took a victory lap after the first 2024 presidential debate.

Trump told supporters every voter should ask one question before heading to the polls Nov. 5.

“The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House,” he said.

TRUMP, BIDEN SPAR OVER GOLF HANDICAPS AS THEY TRY TO CONVINCE VOTERS THEY ARE NOT TOO OLD FOR THE PRESIDENCY

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Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Va., July 28, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Former U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Former President Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, shakes hands with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin during a rally at Greenbrier Farms June 28, 2024, in Chesapeake, Va.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Remember, the biggest problem for our country is not Joe Biden’s personal decline,” Trump said. “It’s that Joe Biden’s policies are causing America’s decline at a level that we’ve never seen before.

“That’s why this November, the people of Virginia and the people of America are going to tell crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired.’”

Joe Biden

Biden said he is committed to winning the election, brushing aside mounting calls from prominent Democrats to step aside following his disastrous debate against Republican Donald Trump. (Cornell Watson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

President Biden addressed his campaign performance at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to.

BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE

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“I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done,” he told a roaring crowd that chanted “Four more years.”

“The choice in this election is simple,” Biden said. “Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”

Joe and Jill Biden

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden delivered remarks at a campaign rally at the Jim Graham Building at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C., June 28, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Biden’s age and mental acuity have been at the forefront as voters inch closer to Election Day.

Biden, 81, is the oldest president in history and has faced skepticism from voters and Republican lawmakers about his ability to do the job.

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Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term, while Trump would be 82.

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Kinky Friedman, musical satirist and writer who also ran for Texas governor, dies at 79

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Kinky Friedman, musical satirist and writer who also ran for Texas governor, dies at 79

Kinky Friedman, author, singer-songwriter and former Texas gubernatorial candidate, died Thursday after a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Friedman was 79.

“He died peacefully,” close friend Kent Perkins, who knew Friedman for about 50 years, told the Associated Press in confirming the death. He said Friedman died at his family’s ranch near San Antonio.

“He smoked a cigar, went to bed and never woke up,” Perkins said.

Perkins described Friedman as the “last free person on earth” and said he had an “irreverence about him. He was a fearless writer.”

Friedman — born Richard Samet Friedman in Chicago on Nov. 1, 1944 — stirred buzz with his provocative and unapologetic nature, which became widely known when his band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, found success in the 1970s.

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The satirical country band released songs such as “Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through the Goal Posts of Life,” “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.”

But the band’s brash nature was apparently not well received by some.

“In 1973, the Texas Jewboys received death threats in Nacogdoches, got bomb threats in New York, and required a police escort to escape radical feminists at the University of Buffalo,” the musician wrote in a personal essay for the September 2001 issue of Texas Monthly.

Friedman — who was nicknamed Kinky, or the Kinkster, because of his curly hair — then traveled with Bob Dylan in 1976 as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. By the 1980s, after his band’s success had cooled, Friedman turned to a new venture: writing.

He penned several New York-based crime novels, including “Greenwich Killing Time” and “Roadkill,” that featured himself as a detective. At the time of his death, Friedman had written more than 20 books.

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Joking that he needed “a job right now,” Friedman elevated his profile when he challenged incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry in the 2006 Texas governor’s race, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The race became prickly. Friedman, one of five candidates, was hit with allegations of racism over remarks he made in 1980. He denied the accusations, stating that his style of humor was intended to draw reactions.

Offending people “was the purpose,” Friedman told the Houston Chronicle in 2006. “That’s what I was doing. That’s called social commentary, that’s called satire.”

He ran on a campaign that supported gay marriage (“I think they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us”) and prayer in school (“What’s wrong with a kid believing in something?”) but ultimately finished in last place. Perry won reelection.

Reflecting on the race four years later, Friedman told The Times that more musicians should get into politics.

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“If the musicians ran the country, we wouldn’t get a hell of a lot done in the morning, but we’d work late and we’d be honest,” he said. “When I’m in a roomful of musicians, those are decent people, good people. You can’t say the same about politicians.”

And he was still proud of his gubernatorial campaign.

“We won that race, by the way,” Friedman said, “every place but Texas.”

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Trump sways independent voters over Biden on immigration in Fox News Digital focus group

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Trump sways independent voters over Biden on immigration in Fox News Digital focus group

Former President Trump appeared to earn significant approval from Republican and independent voters who were part of a Fox News Digital focus group during his response to President Biden’s claims about immigration during the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday night.

When CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked Biden to inform voters how he can curb the record-high numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border, the two presidential contenders sparred over their immigration policies, which ended in Biden calling Trump a “liar” and Trump appearing to not understand a portion of Biden’s responses.

After touting Congress’ bipartisan border package that lawmakers bucked earlier this year, Biden said “we find ourselves in a situation where when [Trump] was president, he was separating babies from their mothers, put them in cages, making sure that the families were separated.”

FIRST 2024 TRUMP-BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: TOP CLASHES OVER ISSUES FROM THE BORDER TO UKRAINE

Former President Trump appeared to earn significant approval from Republican and independent voters during his response to President Biden’s claims about immigration. (Fox News Digital)

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“That’s not the right way to go. What I’ve done since I’ve changed the law, what’s happened? I’ve changed it in a way that now you’re in a situation where there are 40% fewer people coming across the border illegally. That’s better than when he left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden said.

During Biden’s remarks, Republican and independent voters who took part in the Fox News Digital focus group gave the president low approval. When Trump responded, however, the approval from the same voters shot up, indicating support for the former president’s positions on the subject. 

Republican approval lines are color-coded red, while independents’ are color-coded yellow and Democrats’ blue.

BIDEN’S HIT ON TRUMP OVER ‘SUCKERS’ AND ‘LOSERS’ REPORT BACKFIRES WITH INDEPENDENTS: FOCUS GROUP

Donald Trump at CNN presidential debate

Former President Trump speaks during a presidential debate in Atlanta on Thursday. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

Trump, appearing to not understand Biden, responded: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”

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“Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump added. “All he had to do was leave it, all he had to do was to leave it. He decided to open up our border, open up our country, to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylum, terrorists — we have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now.”

Joe Biden at CNN debate

President Biden stands at his podium during the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle in Atlanta on Thursday. (Kevin D. Liles for The Washington Post)

Approval from Democratic voters who took part in the real-time reaction gave Biden high marks for his remarks on immigration. During Trump’s rebuttal, Democratic approval dropped significantly.

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

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