I Got Them Old Durham Blues

 As we saw yesterday, Michael Sussmann, the Clinton lawyer who touched off the investigation into the bogus links between Trump and Russia via the Alfa Bank, was acquitted of lying to the FBI by telling FBI General Counsel James Baker that he was bringing the information on his own, not as a representative of the Clinton campaign (Fox). Some commentary. Techno Fog, Michael Sussmann has been acquitted  "After the verdict was announced, the jury’s forewoman held court before the media and expressed her displeasure that the Special Counsel prosecute a false statement case: “There are bigger things that affect the nation than a possible lie to the FBI.” . . . This juror was never impartial - despite her assurance to the judge." Joe Mannix at Ace's Morning Rant, It was No Surprise. Cernovich@Cernovich "Sussmann verdict is what you expect when the judge stacks the jury with DNC activists. Today is one of the most disgraceful days for the federal judiciary in modern history." From Charles Lipsom at Spectator World, The stench from the Sussmann verdict, "There was a partisan political element at the very heart of the case"

Nick Arama at Red State says a Sussmann Juror Is Talking, and It's an Eye-Opener “I don’t think it should have been prosecuted,” she said of the case. Now, do Gen. Michael Flynn. Twitchy, AYFKM?! What Sussmann juror said to ‘some media’ after verdict tells us this was kinda sorta totally NOT an unbiased jury. Spin, Strangness and Charm,  The US justice system: one for the D nomenklatura, another for the rest  From John Solomon at JTN, Moral of Sussmann trial: Americans see lying as a DC norm, making punishment hard. Russ Vought@russvought, "If you committed a non-violent crime on J6, you go to jail for years. If you're a powerful Democrat who broke federal law while fabricating the Russia hoax to sabotage Donald Trump, you get acquitted by a jury of your donors. Fair trials in Washington D.C. do not exist."  Ace, Sussman Was Acquitted Because of a Partisan DC Jury. And Because the FBI Colluded With Sussman From the Beginning.

And James Baker had been... inconsistent in whether Sussman had in fact represented that he was acting on his own. 

Possibly... deliberately inconsistent? Like maybe he had some gaps in memory because he didn't want Sussman to get into trouble, because Michael Sussman is (as he admits below) "his friend"?

Now, there was a smoking gun piece of evidence that Sussman represented that he was acting alone: A text from Sussman to Baker.

But Baker -- the top lawyer to the FBI -- never produced that text to Durham until it was too late for Durham to introduce it at trial.

Again, was this deliberate?

Let's see Baker's answer as to why this top lawyer for the FBI and DOJ employee withheld key evidence until it was no longer damaging to his "friend" Michael Sussman:

On the witness stand in Sussmann's trial, for example, FBI general counsel James Baker was asked why it took him so long to turn over the most damaging evidence -- a text message to him in which Sussmann said he was not representing any client in pushing the Alfa Bank claim to FBI officials. Baker explained that Sussmann was his friend and told prosecutors that "this is not my investigation. This is your investigation."

Did he just... admit he deliberately withheld key evidence from his employer the FBI and the DOJ to protect his friend?

Jonathon Turley, Friends with Benefits: Sussmann Trial Further Exposes the FBI and Washington Establishment

Before Mueller declined to press criminal charges on any Russia collusion allegations, Democrats in Congress insisted that he should not just issue a report but that the report should be released unredacted, including ordinarily secret grand jury material.

There is no such hue and cry for a similarly unredacted report by Durham.

If Durham does not issue such a report, much of the true story behind the Russia collusion scandal could be buried. Indeed, even if control of Congress were to flip to Republicans in November, the Justice Department could refuse to turn over investigatory material and information. That is precisely what many in Washington undoubtedly would like to happen.

Insty, ROGER SIMON: Sussmann Jury Nullification Marks the End of American Justice as We Knew It.

American justice isn’t only dead, it’s decomposed. Long live totalitarianism!

We can join the world now. Au revoir, American Exceptionalism. We are China. We are Putin’s Russia. We are the European Union, drifting ever more swiftly into Davos globalism and the Great Reset. We are the Ayatollah’s Iran. We are Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and then some.

Most of all, goodbye to the rule of law. Was it ever there? I seem to have vague memories.

Shockingly, President Trump was not pleased, Trump slams 'corrupt' legal system following acquittal of Michael Sussmann, ""Our Legal System is CORRUPT," Trump wrote." Da Caller, ‘Enjoy Your Day’: Trump Gives Abrupt Ending After Going Off On Sussmann Verdict. 

Breitbart reports Kash Patel Calls on DOJ to Move Russia Hoax Trials Outside of D.C. After Sussmann Verdict  "Patel said that after Sussmann’s acquittal, his faith in the Justice Department was “completely gone.”" Can they actually move the trials? I thought they had to be conducted in the place where the crime was committed.

Margot Cleveland at Da Fed claims that Even Without The Jury Convicting Michael Sussmann, The Special Counsel Has Won. I agree it was great to pull back the curtain on the Perkins Coie/FBI shuffle, but a guilty verdict would have been nicer.

At ET, Hans Mahncke explores Who Is John Durham Targeting Next?. Igor Danchenko, of course, but how about Joffe, Fusion GPS, McCabe, Comey? Lots of potential targets.

At WaEx, Was Russia collusion server data pushed in violation of Senate ethics rules? The Senate has ethics rules? Whodda thunk?

And, perhaps not directly Durham related, but involve in the same uber-scandal, sundance at CTH informs us  The FBI Maintains a Workspace, Including Computer Portal, Inside the Law Firm of Perkins Coie – The Ramifications are Significant. If true, a stunning development. Sundance ties it to years of FISA abuse: 

CTH has long claimed there was some kind of direct portal link between the Clinton campaign team and the FBI databases. There were too many trails of extracted non-minimized research evidence in the hands of the Clinton team that CTH could not trace to a transferring FBI official. If Perkins Coie operated a portal in their office that allowed them to conduct search queries of American citizens, then everything would make sense. That access portal is exactly what is being claimed and admitted in this report.

The start date of 2012 is important for several reasons, not the least of which is FISA presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer criticizing the scale and scope of unlawful FBI database access going back to exactly 2012. Keep in mind a FISA-702 search, is simply an unlawful FBI warrantless electronic search of an American (“702” represents the American citizen) into the central database -maintained by the NSA- that contains all electronic data and communication.