Michael A. Sussmann is a former federal prosecutor and partner at Perkins Coie, where he specialized in privacy and cybersecurity law.
After two Russian hacking organizations breached DNC networks and stole material, Sussmann represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and hired CrowdStrike to inspect its systems.
Sussmann was indicted for lying to the FBI by a grand jury appointed by special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI Russia investigation into alleged ties between Russian officials and allies of presidential candidate Donald Trump in September 2021.
Sussmann pled not guilty to the accusation, and his trial is scheduled to start in May 2022. After a two-week trial, he was acquitted.
Sussmann was notified of a data breach by DNC CEO Amy Dacy on April 28, 2016. Sussmann then contacted Shawn Henry, CrowdStrike Services’ CSO and President.
CrowdStrike revealed that two Russian hacking groups, each working independently, had hacked into DNC networks and taken data, including opposition research on Trump.
These findings were corroborated by other data security organizations and US intelligence.
President Donald Trump and his friends claimed that the FBI investigation into suspected links between his aides and Russian officials, which led to the Mueller investigation, was a “hoax” or “witch hunt” orchestrated by his political foes.
Attorney General Bill Barr assigned US Attorney John Durham to probe the FBI investigation’s beginnings in May 2019.
The New York Times reported in September 2020 that Durham had broadened the scope of his investigation to include an investigation into how the FBI investigated the Clinton Foundation after the FBI and later John W. Huber, a special investigator appointed by Trump’s first attorney general Jeff Sessions, found no basis for prosecution.
Durham had gotten one felony indictment against FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith after more than two years of investigation, for tampering with a government document used to obtain a FISA warrant against Trump campaign associate Carter Page, a charge unrelated to the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
