Congressional Republicans are vowing to investigate the allegation that a lawyer with ties to the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign tried to use internet data to link former President Donald Trump to Russia.
They cite a recent court filing by special counsel John Durham, who was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr under President Trump to investigate the FBI’s probe into Russian meddling in the presidential election.
The filing by Durham indicates a lawyer working for Democrats shared data that suggested Russian-made phones were being used near the White House.
The lawyer, Michael Sussmann, is scheduled to go on trial later this year. He’s accused of lying to the FBI during a 2016 meeting to discuss Trump’s possible ties to Russia.
Sussmann has pleaded not guilty.
In his latest court filing, Durham stated that Sussmann was working with an unnamed tech executive who, along with his associates, was involved in the transmission of data to Trump Tower, Donald Trump’s New York apartment building and the White House.
The filing indicated that Sussmann said the tech team found that internet protocol addresses were “using supposedly rare, Russian-made wireless phones in the vicinity of the White House and other locations.”
Durham says his investigation has determined “no support for these allegations.” They were connected to a 2017 meeting Sussmann had with a U.S. government agency, which congressional testimony has indicated was the CIA.
Several congressional Republicans have cited Durham’s filing as evidence that the Clinton campaign was spying on Donald Trump, though the documents don’t say that and the term “spying” is never used.
Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio and a vocal supporter of the former president, told Fox News on Monday that Republicans will carry out an investigation related to Durham’s findings if they retake control of the House in this year’s mid-term elections.
“They spied on a presidential campaign,” Jordan said. “That’s as wrong as it gets.”
Trump and Republicans have said for years that they believe the Clinton campaign tried to smear the former president by suggesting he had questionable ties to Russia.
The former president said in a recent statement that the filing shows he was spied upon “to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia.” He added of the unproven allegations, “in a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death.”
The filing from Durham, made last Friday, was related to a possible conflict of interest involving Sussmann and attorneys representing him.
But it included information on Sussmann’s ties to the technology executive and his company, which assisted in maintaining services related to White House internet connections.
The tech executive, identified by media outlets as Rodney Joffe, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Joffe said he did not work for a political party and was under contract to analyze domain name system data for potential security breaches.
The Russians hacked networks, including at the White House, in 2015, before Trump became president. That led to stepped-up investigations on several fronts, involving the FBI and intelligence agencies.
They also hacked the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.
