Durham asks judge to review Clinton campaign claims of attorney-client privilege
WASHINGTON • Special counsel John Durham wants a federal court to order Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee, Fusion GPS, and Perkins Coie to hand over unredacted versions of withheld documents for the judge to decide whether their claims of attorney-client privilege hold up under scrutiny.
The prosecutor made the demand in a filing late Wednesday in the case of Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann, who was indicted last year 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. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty.
The DNC, Hillary for America, Fusion GPS, and Perkins Coie “have all withheld and/or redacted documents and communications that the government otherwise might seek to admit at trial based on an apparent theory that political opposition research and/or public relations work conducted by the U.S. Investigative Firm at the behest of those entities falls within the legitimate scope of attorney-client privilege and work-product protections,” Durham said in the filing.
The special counsel asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., to “compel” the named parties to produce communications that are “currently being withheld.” Further, Durham wants the judge to conduct an “in camera” review of the records. The counsel argued there are “questions concerning the validity, and extent of the privilege assertions.”
British ex-spy Christopher Steele created his now-discredited anti-Trump dossier after being hired by Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign. Sussmann and Elias worked for Perkins Coie at the time. The Clinton campaign and the DNC were both fined by the Federal Election Commission last month for “misreporting the purpose of certain disbursements” related to Clinton campaign.





