Hillary Clinton Suffers Big Loss As Judge Sides With John Durham And Will Review Withheld Documents For Privilege Claims

Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton suffered another loss in court as Judge Christopher Cooper granted a motion by Special Counsel John Durham’s team to review communications Clinton Campaign lawyers are trying to bury using attorney-client privilege.

Jerry Dunleavy, a reporter for the Washington Examiner, wrote, “In a Durham win, the judge in Sussmann case will review dozens of records currently withheld due to assertions of attorney-client privilege by Clinton’s 2016 campaign to see if the docs were improperly concealed.”

Hans Mahncke summed up the judge’s decision by saying: “The judge quoted from an email by Fritsch to a reporter in October 2016 in which the Fusion co-founder said to ‘do the f***ing Alfa bank secret comms story.’ The judge said: ‘How is that assisting Mr. Elias providing legal advice? That is assisting a media strategy.’”

Clinton campaign lawyer Robert Trout said: 

“The judge quoted from an email by Fritsch to a reporter in October 2016 in which the Fusion co-founder said to “do the f***ing Alfa bank secret comms story.” The judge said: “How is that assisting Mr. Elias providing legal advice? … That is assisting a media strategy.””

Ouch. https://t.co/z5K9GyXY8W

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) May 4, 2022

“The government here has an erroneously cramped view of privilege. It is true that Donald Trump was an opposition candidate and it may have been research about an opposition candidate, but the real purpose was to get our facts straight.”

Sussmann lawyer Sean Berkowitz said:

“The government charged a case with attorneys and privilege all over the place…almost a law school hypothetical.”

Dunleavy added:

“British ex-spy Christopher Steele created a dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump after being hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by the Perkins Coie law firm and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign.

“The judge repeatedly pointed to the difference between hiring a firm to do “fact-checking” versus hiring it to do “opposition research.”

“Hillary for America, the DNC, and Perkins argue claims of attorney-client privilege should keep the records concealed and claim Fusion simply provided them legal services.”

NEW: In a Durham win, the judge in Sussmann case will review dozens of records currently withheld due to assertions of attorney-client privilege by Clinton’s 2016 campaign to see if the docs were improperly concealed. My latest from inside the courtroom…https://t.co/Angsb7PXVj

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) May 4, 2022