Thread by @SarahNLynch

Greetings from the federal courthouse, where the trial for Michael Sussmann, an attorney who once represented Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, is getting underway

Judge Cooper just ruled that John Durham's trial team can presented limited evidence about the "statistical shortcomings" of DNS data that Sussmann brought to the FBI's attention as part of a tip about possible ties between Alfabank and Trump's campaign

But the judge said DOJ cannot discuss or introduce testimony about whether the data may have been spoofed or fabricated

The jury is entering the courtroom

Judge is now giving the jury preliminary instructions and explaining the roadmap for how the trial will proceed.

Prosecutor Deborah Brittain Shaw is portraying Sussmann as a privileged high-powered lawyer who bypassed official channels at the FBI to share information that would damage the Trump campaign

"We are here because the FBI is our institution. It should not be used as a political tool for anyone - not Republicans. Not Democrats. Not anyone," she said. "Whatever your political views might be, they cannot be brought to your decisions."

Shaw said Sussmann was intending to "create an October surprise on the eve of the presidential election - a plan that used and manipulated the FBI."

She said the plan had three parts: "A look. A leak. And a lie." This included a plot by Internet executive Rodney Joffe, who is not charged, to connect Trump's campaign to Russia's Alfabank using DNS data

"Whether we hate Donald Trump or like him, we have to agree that some things are above politics."

Now Michael Bosworth, one of Sussmann's lawyers, is offering his opening statements

Bosworth said his client is a serious and seasoned cyber security expert who has experience working with the FBI. The tips he received about the Trump-Alfabank connection came from a credible cyber expert, Rodney Joffe, who was once an informant for the FBI

Sussmann's lawyer says the Clinton campaign "did not authorize" Sussmann as its lawyer to meet with the FBI to pass along the concerns about the Trump-Alfabank internet traffic

"The next day, Mr. Sussmann meets with Mr. Baker for less than 30 minutes. Mr. Baker didn't take any notes of the meeting," Bosworth said, adding that the meeting was also not recorded and that Baker himself did not officially document it.

"Do you think Mr. Sussmann would throw his life away to tell a lie to that guy?"

We have a small break. Both sides have concluded their opening statements.

The United States calls FBI Special Agent David Martin to the stand

They are just going through the details of his career history. He is a specialist in cyber crime and cyber technical analysis work

Right now the testimony is pretty technical in nature. David Martin is explaining domain name system (DNS) 101 for the benefit of the jury

He compares DNS to a phone book, and how it can be used to trace and track numerical IP addresses from a computer to a web server

This testimony is laying the groundwork to understand in more detail the nature of the tip Sussmann shared with the FBI, alleged online communications between Trump Org & Alfabank.

The tip about the Alfabank-Trump connections was later debunked. But Sussmann played no role in the actual cyber research itself. As such, the govn't is not permitted to introduce evidence about whether the data was "fabricated or spoofed," per Judge Cooper.

Sussmann's lawyer said his client had ever reason who trust the tip, because the research was overseen by technology executive Rodney Joffe, who is respected and even served as an FBI confidential informant. Joffe is not charged in this case, though he is under investigation

First version of the story summarizing the opening arguments in the case: reuters.com/legal/governme…

Martin is saying DNS data itself is not enough to establish connections between domains and IP addresses.

Cross-examination of Agent Martin is about to begin

Sussmann's attorney notes that DNS traffic analysis "is pretty complicated stuff"

Just because one computer is doing a look up of another site doesn't mean emails were exchanged, Martin confirms to Sussmann's lawyer. This data shows "a potential connection," Sussmann's lawyer says

A basic "look up" is different from substantive communication? Sussmann's lawyer asks. FBI Agent Martin confirms his understanding.

Sussmann's lawyer is asking Martin if he knew Rodney Joffe, who oversaw the DNS data research on Trump/Alfabank, was an FBI informant. Martin says he only learned this after the fact

Martin did acknowledge though that Joffe is well-known as a DNS expert in the cyber world

Brittain Shaw now doing re-direct

She wants to know if the FBI would want to know about the source of DNS data when applying for a search warrant. Martin agrees this is important to know.

Shaw asks Martin if he was aware Rodney Joffe was "closed for cause" as an FBI source. Martin says no. He is now stepping down and is excused. His testimony is over

The United States calls FBI special agent Scott Hellman

He oversees a team of cyber crime investigators at the FBI.

Hellman says he was aware of the allegations that there were online connections between the Trump Org & Alfabank.

Hellman was responsible in part for determining/overseeing the "chain of custody" over the data Sussmann provided, which included thumb drives

An exhibit shows James Baker, GC for FBI at the time, took initial custody of the evidence turned over by Sussmann, and then it went next to @petestrzok before making its way into the custody of several other @FBI officials

Hellman says he was upset that in his chain of custody review, he could not determine the source of the thumb drives and other materials. "I was frustrated I was not able to identity of who had provided these thumb drives... to Mr. Baker."

He says he was tasked with analyzing the data and its accompanying narratives to see how it compared with his own independent assessment

Exhibits on the screen are showing snapshots of some of the allegations about purported Trump Org-Alfabank connections that were shared with the FBI by Sussmann. He provided technical data on thumb drives and accompanying narratives explaining the data

Hellman says he concluded the allegations of a secret communication channel between the Trump Org & Alfabank did not hold water.
"Whoever had written that paper had jumped to some conclusions that were not supported by the technical data," he said.

"There was not enough data there to make the conclusion there was a) any communication or b) secret communications between the Trump Organization and Russia," Hellman said.

Hellman says it would be "abnormal" that a presidential candidate would try to hide his communications with a Russian bank by labeling his domain with the name "Trump." He also said if there were secret communications, Russia is a sophisticated player that could hide it

Hellman said the information provided made broad and sweeping conclusions about whether any such communications existed between the Trump Org & Alfabank.

"I did not feel that they were objective in the conclusions that they came to," Hellman said, calling it "far-reaching" and saying it did not really make any sense.

We are breaking for lunch. Back at 2 pm.

Court is back in session. They are running about 20 minutes behind schedule

Bosworth, one of Sussman's lawyers, is raising issues with Martin's testimony. He is worried about comments in open court suggesting Rodney Joffe was terminated for cause as an FBI CI in 2021, saying it is "prejudicial"

He is mostly concerned about future testimony on this topic. Andrew DeFilippis, a prosecutor, said Joffe was terminated for bypassing the proper channel for sharing his materials on the alleged Alfa Bank-Trump connection

Judge Cooper says the government should steer clear of this topic. The propriety of Joffe's handling of the research and material is not on trial here and he was terminated for cause later. At the time, he was known as a respected expert

Sean Berkowitz, an attorney for Sussmann, is now cross-examining Agent Hellman

Berkowitz is questioning Hellman about his interview with one of the lead prosecutors on this case.

Berkowitz is asking about Hellman's apparent comment in his interview saying there was a "big divide" between the FBI's cyber and counterintelligence units

Berkowitz is focusing on the fact there were no allegations of a hack, and therefore no mater for the cyber division (in which Hellman works) to pursue.

Hellman says he knew there was "another team of agents" involved in a special investigation in Chicago, and they were going to look into it further.

Hellman does not remember asking Baker during the chain of custody documentation asking where the data Sussmann delivered came from

Later, Hellman asked another agent where the data came from and was told it was a "sensitive source."

Hellman says he is "confident" he has a memory of expressing frustration that Baker would not reveal the source of the thumb drivers but he cannot recall details of when that occurred etc

Berkowitz is showing an exhibit - it is internal FBI instant messaging describing the chain of custody of evidence and it shows that someone documented it started with "Sussmann"

Some laughs here in the media room, as Hellman translates some FBI inside-baseball comment he made in an old chat where he said the white papers felt 51-50ish. Translation: "I thought the person who had drafted this document was suffering from some mental disability."

Defense is showing an exhibit of internal FBI messages in which the report was referred to as a "DNC" report.

Sean Berkovitz is asking why Hellman didn't talk to the author of the white paper, whom he was criticizing for poor methodology. Hellman say he had no ability to do that.

Berkovitz is asking Hellman if the counterintelligence unit did open an investigation based on the Sussmann tip, even though he had penned a memo questioning the quality and accuracy of the report. Hellman confirms counterintelligence did in fact open an inquiry

CORRECTION: In prior tweets I accidentally misspelled the name of Sussmann's attorney. It is Sean Berkowitz. I will correct that here, rather than delete all the prior tweets. Apols for the error.

Berkowitz said "isn't it possible you missed it being a DNC report, and now that there's a huge focus on whether there was a political motive, you are disappointed you didn't include it in your report?"

Hellman said he does not think so. He cannot recall once ever discussing if the report was from the DNC.

Hellman says under cross-examination it did not occur to him that political motivation could have been involved in how the report was generated. Government now doing re-direct

Hellman says had he known the report originated from Democrats, then this fact it "would have been written in the report" he wrote analyzing the data, and it would have made him more skeptical

Hellman says he would have wanted to know if the information had come from a confidential human source

The testimony from Special Agent Scott Hellman is concluded

The government calls Steve Dejong, with Neustar Security Services

Questioning again for him is starting out technical. He talks about DNS data and what kinds of services his employer provides and what it does with DNS data etc

Steve De Jong says Rodney Joffe, who was Neustar's chief tech officer, in Aug/Sept 2016 asked him to run a query over DNS data to look for names related to political campaigns and political organizations

He said he "didn't think anything of it" at the time. Research is requested all the time, he said.

De Jong says he ran a script to conduct the searches requested by Joffe and sent it off

De Jong said he never got any insight into why Joffe wanted it. "It's not my business," he said.

De Jong said he never heard whether Joffe shared this project with the government or anyone else. "No," he said.

Bosworth now beginning cross-examination for De Jong

De Jong says Joffe is "very well-respected" in the field as a DNS expert. He also says he knows Joffe did some work for the feds

De Jong says Joffe was "awarded an FBI service award" for his work

De Jong says, in response to questions, that Michael Sussmann had no involvement in gathering or analyzing the data

And with that, the second day of the Sussmann trial is adjourned and the jury is exiting