Hillary approved telling media about Trump-Russia allegation

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Hillary Clinton personally approved her campaign's plans in fall 2016 to share information with a reporter about an uncorroborated alleged server backchannel between Donald Trump and a top Russian bank, her former campaign manager testified Friday in federal court.

Robby Mook said he attended a meeting with other senior campaign officials where they learned about strange cyberactivity that suggested a relationship between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which is based in Moscow. The group decided to share the information with a reporter, and Mook subsequently ran that decision by Clinton herself.

"We discussed it with Hillary," Mook said, later adding that "she agreed with the decision."

The testimony came in the criminal trial of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who is being prosecuted by the Trump-era special counsel John Durham. Durham is investigating potential misconduct tied to the FBI's Trump-Russia probe. The trial has shed light on the dark arts of political opposition research -- and how campaigns dig up dirt and plant stories in the press.

Federal investigators ultimately concluded there weren't any improper Trump-Alfa cyber links.

Sussmann passed along the same information about Trump and Alfa Bank to an FBI official in September 2016. Prosecutors charged him with lying to the FBI and allege that he falsely told the FBI official that he wasn't there for a client, even though he was there on Clinton's behalf.

He has pleaded not guilty and maintains that he went "to help the FBI" as a concerned citizen, and that the Clinton campaign wouldn't have wanted him to meet with the FBI in the first place.

Mook and another top Clinton campaign official, general counsel Marc Elias, reinforced that assertion this week on the witness stand. They both testified they didn't authorize or direct Sussmann to go to the FBI with the explosive Trump tip. Mook said Friday that he didn't even know who Sussmann was during the 2016 campaign, and would've opposed an FBI meeting.

"Going to the FBI does not seem like an effective way to get information out to the public," Mook said. "You do that through the media, which is why the information was shared with the media."

To follow up on this discussion, I want to point out that Sussmann has now been unanimously ACQUITTED with the jury having some harsh words about the trial ever having been brought.

Well, that verdict was expected... After all:
3 Jury members donated to Ms Clinton's campaign.
1 Jury member donated to AOC's campaign.
1 Jury member had a daughter who played on the same sports team as Mr Sussmann's daughter.

Well, that verdict was expected... After all:
3 Jury members donated to Ms Clinton's campaign.
1 Jury member donated to AOC's campaign.
1 Jury member had a daughter who played on the same sports team as Mr Sussmann's daughter.