Hillary’s Role in the Russia Smear The Sussmann trial provides more evidence that she personally directed the effort. By Douglas Schoen and Andrew Stein
The acquittal of former Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann—charged with lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation while acting on behalf of her 2016 campaign—leaves major questions unanswered about Mrs. Clinton’s role in her campaign’s effort to tie Donald Trump to Russia. It also provides new evidence that she personally directed the effort.
In July 2016, John Brennan, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, briefed President Obama that Mrs. Clinton gave “approval” for a “proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up scandal and claiming interference by the Russian security service,” according to Mr. Brennan’s notes from the meeting, which were obtained by Fox News.
During Mr. Sussmann’s trial, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, testified that he and other top aides decided to feed the press a story in October 2016 about the now-disproven allegations of secret ties between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. Importantly, Mr. Mook said that Mrs. Clinton was aware of, and approved of, this plan. “We discussed it with Hillary,” Mr. Mook testified. “She agreed with the decision.”
When the campaign leaked the unverified story, Clinton aide Jake Sullivan—now President Biden’s national security adviser, and perhaps the foreign-policy adviser to whom Mr. Brennan referred—issued a statement indicating that a probe could be imminent: “We can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia’s meddling in our elections.” Mrs. Clinton tweeted out Mr. Sullivan’s statement.
Another reason to think Mrs. Clinton directed the effort was its sheer cost. The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee paid $12.4 million, $5.6 million of which came from the campaign, to Perkins Coie, Mr. Sussmann’s law firm, to pay Fusion GPS for this opposition research on Trump.
One of us (Mr. Schoen) worked with Mrs. Clinton during her 2000 Senate race and worked closely with President Clinton during his 1996 re-election campaign. In 1996 both Clintons had detailed knowledge of virtually every aspect of the campaign and the Whitewater investigation. Mrs. Clinton is far more precise and organized than her husband, and she is meticulous about campaign spending. It isn’t plausible that her campaign would have spent so much money without her knowing every major aspect of the undertaking—including how this information would be shared with federal authorities.
Mr. Clinton is also obsessed with October surprises. In 1996 he led Bob Dole comfortably, yet six months before the election the campaign had internal conversations about what Dole’s October surprise would be and how the campaign could blunt it. It’s probable that Mrs. Clinton, a prohibitive favorite 20 years later, also worried about October surprises.
FBI director James Comey delivered an October surprise, the revelation that the bureau had reopened its investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s improper use of a private email account to conduct official State Department business. But in September 2016, when Mr. Sussmann went to the FBI, she had every reason to believe the bureau wouldn’t be hostile. Mr. Comey had issued a favorable decision for Mrs. Clinton on the email matter in July 2016, and the wife of then deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe had run for Virginia Senate with the Clintons’ support.
Taken together, the revelations from the Sussmann trial, the resources that went into the campaign’s attempt to tie Trump to Russia, the Clintons’ focus on October surprises, and their cordial relationship with the FBI make it abundantly likely that Mrs. Clinton not only knew about but led the entire smear campaign.
Mr. Schoen was a senior adviser to Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign, a White House adviser (1994-2000) and an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. Mr. Stein, a Democrat, served as New York City Council president, 1986-94.
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