Thread by @JFHaughey58

#SussmannTrial Day 10: Barricades have been placed before the main entry of the E. Barnett Perryman Courthouse in Washington DC where former #Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann’s trial for allegedly lying to the FBI about concocted #Trump-Russia links presumably concludes Friday.

@EpochTimes has covered the trial blow-by-blow since the opening gavel and will be here until the end. To catch up, Zach Stieber — brilliant ace reporter that he is — has built this timeline.

https://twitter.com/ZackStieber/status/1530159685365649409

US District Judge Christopher Cooper has scheduled closing arguments to begin at 9 am. He asked attorneys to limit final orations to one hour and 40 minutes each — no more than 100 minutes. #SussmannTrial

The plan, as of now, is for the case to go to the jury this afternoon. Cooper apparently has plans and wants proceedings to end before 2:30. The jury is expected to return Tuesday after the holiday weekend to ponder a verdict. #SussmannTrial

Speculation is jurors may begin deliberations immediately after closing arguments and could issue a verdict this afternoon or evening. The newly installed barricades have fueled this. #SussmannTrial

There have been 21 witnesses, with 17 testifying — many under subpoena — for the prosecution. Among the witnesses are nine former and current FBI agents and attorneys. In many ways, the agency is on trial as much as Sussmann. #SussmannTrial

Cooper convenes court at 8:58. Obviously, a man with weekend plans. Jonathon Algor is going to make the opening statements of the prosecution's closing argument. #SussmannTrial

Everyone waiting for Algor. There have been 21 witnesses, with 17 testifying — many under subpoena — for the prosecution. Among the witnesses are nine former and current FBI agents and attorneys. In many ways, the agency is on trial as much as Sussmann. #SussmannTrial

ACTUALLY, we were waiting for the jury. They weren't admitted until 9:08. So, no, the 100-minute clock wasn't running. Cooper issues character witness instructions to jury and away we go with Algor making the government's case. #SussmannTrial

Algor closes government's case at 10:13. He went billing-by-billing to show Sussmann was charging Clinton campaign for his time while telling FBI he was a good citizen concerned about national security. Roundup coming. Defense to make closing argument momentarily. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz ends defense final argiuments at 11:52. Attacks Baker, FBI agents under investigation credibility compared to Sussmann's 30 years as trusted national security expert. "Think about who he is and who they brought against him on behalf of the government." #SussmannTrial

Prosecutor Andrew DeFillipis to offer final rebuttal and that will be that with the trail as Cooper turns the case over to the jury, likely before 1 pm. Full detail on closing arguments coming soon. #SussmannTrial

DeFilippis concludes rebuttal at 12:50. Cooper giving final instructions to jury, which retires to Jury Room after lunch. The Epoch Times will stay in courthouse in case there's a verdict, until booted out (as usual). #SussmannTrial

Sixteen jurors were empaneled from more than 40 candidates. Twelve were to be randomly selected today to deliberate a verdict. One juror has been released because of illness, so Jurors 1, 6, 10 -- seats that were chosen at the start -- are sent home.

Cooper told the jury it would deliberate until 5 pm Friday and then return Friday. In the unlikely case there is a verdict today, Cooper said it would be "held" until Tuesday. #SussmannTrial

AND SO, where were we? Yes. The jury. The jury returned from lunch and presumably is deliberating right this instance until they, too, like the media, get the boot from security here at 5:01 pm. #SussmannTrial

@ZackStieber at @TheEpochTimes is providing more complete accounts from your's truly here in the US District Courthouse in far more cognizant fashion than anything I can supply from these confines, but there are highlights I can now relay. #SussmannTrial

Prosecutor Jonathon Algor in his 1 hour, 2 minute closing argument focused extensively on billing records that showed Sussmann dutifully charged the Clinton campaign for work on its behalf. #SussmannTrial

That work, Algor said, included going to FBI with concocted Trump-Russia links because they posed a national security threat. “It wasn’t about national security. It was about promoting opposition research against the opposition candidate Donald Trump.” #SussmannTrial

In doing so in his Sept. 19, 2016 meeting with FBI general counsel James A Baker, Algor said the evidence proves Sussmann lied about who he was representing -- Rodney Joffe, the chief technical officer of Neustar. #SussmannTrial

Algor: “Why did the defendant do this? Because he knew if he had conferred his identity” of his client and relationships with the Clinton campaign, it "would have hurt the push" to get the allegation to the FBI. #SussmannTrial

Algor: “He knew he had to hide his clients if there was any chance to get his allegations to the FBI and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the defendant lied.” #SussmannTrial

Algor said Sussmann's statement to Baker was “false, fictitious, and fraudulent … it was untrue when it was made and the defendant knew it was not true.” This shows intent. "The defendant did so knowing, as a former DOJ prosecutor, as lawyer, that it was wrong." #SussmannTrial

But he's billing Clinton campaign for "confidential project" in tell-tale invoices, calendar entries. ".. The defendant leveraged his client to benefit his other client, the Clinton campaign. This is not national security-related, this is pure opposition research." #SussmannTrial

Algor said defense claims it was known that Sussmann was a cyber security lawyer and represented the DNC after its May hack by the Russians. But somehow, when he met with Baker, "he stepped out of that role" and was a concerned citizen acting on his own volition. #SussmannTrial

Algor: “When he went into that meeting (with Baker) … he was no longer representing Rodney Joffe or the Clinton campaign, he was doing it as a good citizen. But look at how defendant bills his time …”#SussmanTrial

Algor cited conflicting statements Sussmann made to two CIA officers and before a Congressional panel in December 2017. When asked in that hearing about attorney-client relationships under oath "He admitted what he couldn’t deny but denied what he couldn’t admit.” #SussmannTrial

Algor: "Use your commonsense. When you look at all the evidence, is the defendant’s statement he was not acting on behalf of a client true? No. The evidence has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Michael Sussmann made a false statement to the FBI on Sept. 19, 2016.” #Sussmann

In his closing argument, lead defense attorney Sean Berkowitz recalled how magician David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty "disappear" on live TV in 1983. How did he do it?’’ He did it by “something called misdirection,” he said. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz said while Copperfield was talking and the curtains were down, "they turned the stage around" and when they were drawn open, the statue was gone because "they were facing New Jersey." #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz said that was an amusing stunt, no so with what the DOJ's "misdirection" is doing to his client. "These are serious charges. Mr. Sussmann’s liberty is at stake. The time for conspiracy theories is over." #SussmannTrial

The Clinton campaign, Rodney Joffe, FusionGPS, “the people who are supposedly involved in this conspiracy … I am not going to say Mr. Sussmann did not work” with them, Berkowitz said. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz: “Opposition research is not illegal. If it were, then the jails in Washington DC would be teeming over.” He cited Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook, who said it would be “malpractice” for a political campaign not to conduct opposition research. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz: “Michael Sussmann is a serious national security lawyer. He delivered what he thought to be credible data … He went to the FBI to give them a heads-up (about a pending New York Times article). He did not ask for anything from anybody." #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz mocked the billing invoices and calendar entries being used as evidence against his client, noting they were cherrypicked and incomplete. The prosecution has “Nothing: Smoke. Mirrors. Noise," he said. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz questioned Baker's memory, noting he'd said different things at different times in other probes but now, five years later, is "100% confident" Sussmann said he wasn't representing clients when they met Sept. 19 and spoke for 13 minutes three days later. #SussmanTrial

Berkowitz: "So here is the real question: What did Mr Baker and Mr Sussman talk about on Sept 21 … a 13-minute call. Baker wanted the name of the reporter. I just said it in 10 seconds. What happened in the other 12-and-a-half minutes?" #SussmannTrial

The defense maintains Sussmann told Baker during the Sept. 19 meeting, and during that phone call, he was representing Joffe, citing a previous text where he apologized for not responding sooner because the person with the name of the reporter was unavailable. #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz said special counsel John Durham's team essentially bullied FBI agents Ryan Gaynor and Curtis Heide to amend their memories to dovetail into their narrative because both were facing potential charges themselves in this and related probes. #SussmannTrial

Gaynor had said the allegations came from a "DNC lawyer" and was "the one who stopped people from interviewing" Sussmann and Joffe. During pretrial prep, Gaynor "changes his impression" that Sussmann was representing the Democratic Party but was acting independently," he said.

Berkowitz: "They went over and over and over again" with Gaynor "because if they thought the case came from a DNC lawyer, the case is over." Similar pressure was exerted on Heide, he said, who is facing an inquiry for his role in Crossfire Hurricane. #SussmannTrial

Investigators met with Heide "over and over again. Why so many times? What did they want to get from him?" Berkowitz asked, noting prosecutor Andrew DeFillipis "suggested" the mislabeling of the probe as coming from the DOJ "might be a typo." #SussmannTrial

Berkowitz: “You know what? There was no leak. Think about that. There was no leak.” The FBI “investigation was shoddy, an embarrassment,” noting agents “never interview Sussmann. Never interview researchers.” #SussmannTrial

He said there's no case. "You wake up in the morning and there's snow on the ground and you assume it snowed last night. What happened here is the special counsel bought a snow-making machine and blew snow all over the lawn and they want you to think it snowed." #SussmannTrial

In rebuttal, DeFillipis said the defense is engaged in magic tricks and snow jobs. The government doesn't need flim-flammery. "There are sometimes close cases. This is not a close case," he said. "You do have proof beyond reasonable doubt" that Sussmann lied to FBI. #SussmanTrial

DeFillipis: Defense "wants you to think ‘no harm, no foul,’ everybody knew he was a DNC lawyer ... a cyber lawyer, someone who represented victims of hacks. (That) was the motive for his lie" to Baker that the allegations were "sponsored by political entities." #SussmannTrial

DeFillipis challenged claims that the Clinton campaign did not want the allegations to go to the FBI because doing so might delay publication of news stories about the allegations as part of a "joint venture" to concoct an "October Surprise." #SussmannTrial

Because the claims were quickly dismissed as baloney, the mere fact that there was some murky FBI probe into Trump-Russia links would suffice. "Commonsense tells you that is exactly what the plan was," DeFillipis said, adding Sussmann would not have "acted alone." #SussmannTrial

And the lie "did matter," DeFillipis said. "It was material. The lie had an effect on the function of government agencies" and was "opposition research to spur an investigation weeks before an election." #SussmannTrial

DeFillipis acknowledged there was bungling. "The FBI didn’t necessarily do everything right here. There were missed opportunities, they even kept information from themselves. That is not relevant. The folks in the field knew it was material." #SussmannTrial

AND. SO. There it is. The trial is over and Sussmann's fate is in the hands of a jury, which began deliberations Friday afternoon and will return Tuesday to continue pondering a verdict. #SussmannTrial

For a far more comprehensive and nuanced account of Friday's proceedings, visit with @ZackStieber and @EpochTimes. Much more to come. theepochtimes.com