WASHINGTON—The former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer who is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI is moving for a mistrial.
Attorneys for Michael Sussmann, the lawyer, say testimony delivered on May 18 by Marc Elias—another former Clinton campaign lawyer—strayed into improper areas, prejudicing the defendant.
When Elias was asked by the defense whether Sussmann took information on Clinton rival Donald Trump to the FBI on Sept. 19, 2016, on behalf of Clinton’s campaign, Elias said “from my standpoint, I would say no,” but also told the defense to ask Sussmann.
“Portions of Mr. Elias’s answer—namely that ‘you’d have to ask Mr. Sussmann’ and ‘on behalf of’ is kind of like a subjective intent thing’—were nonresponsive and prejudicial. Although Mr. Sussmann was prejudiced even then, the defense declined to draw attention to the comment in the presence of the jury,” defense lawyers wrote in a motion filed later Wednesday….