Former President Trump said the revelations out of the trial of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann and his acquittal make him “want to fight even harder,” warning that “if we don’t win, our country is ruined.”
A jury found Sussmann not guilty Tuesday after Special Counsel John Durham charged him with making a false statement to the FBI.
Sussmann, in Sept. 2016, brought information to the FBI alleging a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. Durham alleged that Sussmann lied to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker when he said he was bringing those allegations as a citizen concerned with national security.
Durham said Sussmann was acting in his capacity as a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, pointing to billing records revealing that Sussmann charged the campaign repeatedly for his work on compiling the information tying Trump to the Kremlin-linked bank.
When asked if the verdict had any effect on his future political plans, signaling his 2024 campaign plans, Trump quipped: “If anything, it makes me want to fight even harder.”
“If we don’t win, our country is ruined,” Trump said. “We have bad borders, bad elections, and a court system not functioning properly.”
He added: “Our country is being systematically destroyed.”
“They spied on my campaign. They got caught. If a Republican would have done that, and the obvious steps forward, it would be a virtual death penalty,” Trump said during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Key allegations that tied Trump to Russia during the 2016 election and into his presidency and led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller originated with individuals linked to Clinton and her presidential campaign, with former officials now questioning why Mueller’s team of seasoned prosecutors didn’t report those connections as part of their years-long probe.
“They had blinders on—they were only looking in one direction,” Trump said. “No matter how far they turned, and saw all of these crimes, they wouldn’t go there.”
He added: “Mueller and everybody else knew what was going on, and they didn’t do anything about it.”
After nearly two years, Mueller’s more-than $30 million investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.
During the Sussmann trial — the first trial stemming from Durham’s years-long investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe — Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook testified that Hillary Clinton herself approved the dissemination of unproven and subsequently debunked information to the media alleging a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.
“This was totally illegal. What they did was treason, and it also put our country in a lot of danger with Russia,” Trump said.
As for Clinton, Trump said, “She should be ashamed of herself.”
“I think she should be ashamed of herself, and she lost the election. She should be ashamed of herself and so should [Adam] Schiff and all these corrupt politicians,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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