By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors presented Friday’s closing arguments before a Washington jury. They were arguing against a former Hillary Clinton attorney. The case involves a criminal case. Their goal is to get him convicted of lying to FBI to try to hurt Donald Trump.

Michael Sussmann’s case centers around whether or not he claimed he was representing no clients. He arranged September 2016 a private meeting to discuss a tip that suggested the Trump Organization was secretly communicating via Russia’s Alfa-Bank.

Prosecutor Jonathan Algor stated that the defendant had used his privilege, as an ex-DOJ prosecutor and friend, to bypass traditional channels and expedite a meeting to meet with FBI’s general counsel.

John Durham (Special Counsel) is leading the prosecution against Sussmann. Durham was appointed in 2019 by William Barr as an investigator into any missteps that occurred in FBI’s probe of Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

Prosecutors claim that Sussmann represented two clients at the time he met Baker. These were Clinton’s campaign for the presidency and Rodney Joffe (a technology executive responsible for the investigation into the possible connections between Alfa-Bank, the Trump Organization and other banks).

“In that meeting the defendant made false statements when he said to Mr. Baker that it was not for any client. Algor claimed that instead of being there on behalf of any client, he was simply a good citizen and bringing it himself.”

And why did the defendant do it? Algor explained that the defendant knew he needed to hide his Clinton campaign and Rodney Joffe representations to allow him to push the Alfa-Bank allegations against the FBI.

Sussmann maintains his innocence and his lawyers are scheduled to make their final arguments on Friday.