White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been identified as the "foreign policy advisor" referred to in the indictment of former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, Fox News reports.
Back in September, Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with deep ties to the Democratic Party, was indicted on charges of lying to the FBI in a meeting with senior officials in 2016. Sussmann had reportedly brought evidence to the FBI he claimed connected the Trump Organization to the Kremlin-connected Alfa Bank.
The indictment accuses Sussman of presenting himself as a simple concerned citizen without disclosing his connection to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty to one count of making a false statement to a federal agent.
"On or about September 15, 2016, Campaign Lawyer-1 exchanged emails with the Clinton Campaign's campaign manager, communications director, and foreign policy advisor concerning the Russian Bank-1 allegations that SUSSMANN had recently shared with Reporter 1," the indictment states.
According to Fox News, Sullivan is the foreign policy adviser referred to, a fact that was first reported by the Washington Examiner. Clinton's campaign manager was Robby Mook, and her communications director was Jennifer Palmieri.
It was confirmed (and not just by me) that Jake Sullivan was the unnamed \u201cForeign Policy Advisor\u201d in John Durham\u2019s indictment against Michael Sussmann way back in September when the indictment was first made public.\n\nhttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jake-sullivan-promoted-alfa-bank-story-center-durham-indictment\u00a0\u2026 https://twitter.com/foxnews/status/1458150729340887042\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/2WFjvVxeEs
— Jerry Christmas \ud83c\udf84\ud83c\udf85\ud83c\udffd (@JerryDunleavy) 1636488965
Sussman's indictment came out of special counsel John Durham's probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. Sullivan is not a target of the Durham probe, and the indictment only describes him as a recipient of information.
When asked for comment, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Fox News, "I don't know anything about what you're just mentioning. So I have to talk to our team."
The allegations of a connection between the Trump campaign and Alfa Bank, brought to the FBI by Sussmann, became an issue in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Then-candidate Clinton tweeted about the allegations just days before she lost to Donald Trump.
"Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank," Clinton tweeted, linking to a campaign statement from Sullivan that detailed the accusations.
Another recent indictment from the Durham probe has linked the 2016 Clinton campaign to false information that purported to show a link between Trump and Russia.
Last week, U.S.-based Russian analyst Igor Danchenko was indicted on five counts of lying to the FBI. Danchenko was the "primary researcher" for the Steele dossier — a discredited report that compiled various allegations and rumors accusing Trump's campaign of colluding with the Russian government to defeat Clinton.
The indictment claims Danchenko made false statements to federal investigators in 2017 by denying a relationship with a public relations executive and longtime Democratic operative who had close ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton. The PR executive was one of his sources for research that was included in the dossier.
Over the weekend, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said he expects "many indictments" to come from Durham's probe and suggested everyone who had a hand in creating the Steele dossier is in "jeopardy."
"What happened with the Steele dossier, a grand jury is saying, was criminal in nature and I expect that all of the folks that are involved with creating it and peddling it falsely would be in jeopardy," Ratcliffe told Fox News, "and I know that that's what John Durham is looking at, and as I talked about, this goes to the highest levels of our government and government agencies involved."
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that a "fair amount" of the defense materials that the U.S. supplied to Afghanistan have fallen under the Taliban's control.
"We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone. But certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban," he said, "and obviously we don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport."
Asked what is expected to happen to weaponry U.S. gave Afghan military, NSA Jake Sullivan says, "Certainly a fair a… https://t.co/KfDinKzk7E
— ABC News (@ABC) 1629225782.0
The world has been witnessing the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan as the U.S. seeks to pull out of the country. And while seizing control, the Taliban has also procured military equipment supplied to Afghanistan by the U.S.
"A U.S. defense official on Monday confirmed the Taliban's sudden accumulation of U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment is enormous. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity," the Associated Press has reported.
Helicopters have been among the equipment that has been obtained by the Taliban, according to the AP.
USA Today reported that the Taliban has released photos of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters that the U.S. supplied to the Afghan army.
Sullivan explained Tuesday that Black Hawks had been supplied to the Afghan National Security Forces at the request of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who "came to the Oval Office and asked for additional air capability, among other things."
Sullivan said that President Biden faced a decision.
"He could not give it to them ... Or he could give it to them with the hope that they could deploy it in service of defending their country. Both of those options had risks. He had to choose," Sullivan said.
Ghani recently fled amid the Taliban's takeover of the country.
Brett Bruen, who served as director of global engagement at the Obama White House, has argued in an opinion piece for USA Today that Sullivan and others should be fired over America's "botched" Afghanistan withdrawal.
"President Biden needs to fire his national security adviser and several other senior leaders who oversaw the botched execution of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has to restructure how and with whom he is making major foreign policy decisions, allowing for more input from career experts," Bruen wrote.
Americans can't trust a liar like Jake Sullivan to be honest about the threats facing the nation when he's guilty of fabricating them.
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