The Sussman-Steele connection to Russia hoax

 Washington Examiner:

...

Steele testified in a British court that Sussmann provided him with other claims about Alfa Bank’s purported ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a late July 2016 meeting. These allegations made their way into a September 2016 memo that became part of the dossier.

DeFilippis said Wednesday that Sussmann’s meeting with Steele is “incredibly probative and relevant” because the meeting shows that Sussmann was “integrated” with the broader effort. He said the prosecution’s goal is to show “the intersection between Mr. Steele’s efforts and the Russian Bank-1” claims.

The prosecutor said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook “told the government that he viewed Steele’s opposition research and Alfa Bank research as intermixed” and part of the same "work stream" of Fusion and Perkins. The prosecutor pointed out that the same law firm and opposition research firm were the ultimate sources of the Steele reporting and the Alfa Bank allegations.

Berkowitz argued conversely that Sussmann had a “relatively innocuous” conversation with Steele and that “he doesn’t recall ever seeing Steele again." The defense argued there is “no evidence that Mr. Sussmann knew what Mr. Steele was doing” and lamented that this would become a “trial within a trial about what Mr. Steele was doing and how he was acting.”

Elias testified that he was aware of Fusion’s plans to have Steele brief reporters about his anti-Trump research during the 2016 contest, met with Steele during 2016, and periodically briefed the campaign about the findings from Fusion and Steele. Elias coordinated with Sussmann on anti-Trump research in 2016.

...

I think it would be a mistake for the court to suppress evidence of the other participants in the Russian collusion hoax.  The relevance appears obvious to me. In fact, the attempts to exclude it look like the defense has something it wants to hide from the eventual fact finders.  I  do not think the prosecution for this hoax should be limited to Sussmann.  He appears to have been the frontman for those behind the hoax.

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