Durham Is Said to Seek Indictment of Lawyer at Firm With Democratic Ties

WASHINGTON — John H. Durham, the peculiar counsel appointed by the Trump medication to scrutinize the Russia investigation, has told the Justice Department that helium volition inquire a expansive assemblage to indict a salient cybersecurity lawyer connected a complaint of making a mendacious connection to the F.B.I., radical acquainted with the substance said.

Any indictment of the lawyer — Michael Sussmann, a erstwhile national authoritative and present a partner astatine the Perkins Coie instrumentality firm, and who represented the Democratic National Committee connected issues related to Russia’s 2016 hacking of its servers — is apt to pull important governmental attention.

Donald J. Trump and his supporters person agelong accused Democrats and Perkins Coie — whose governmental instrumentality group, a part abstracted from Mr. Sussmann’s, represented the enactment and the Hillary Clinton run — of seeking to stoke unfair suspicions astir Mr. Trump’s purported ties to Russia.

The lawsuit against Mr. Sussmann centers connected the question of whom his lawsuit was erstwhile helium conveyed definite suspicions astir Mr. Trump and Russia to the F.B.I. successful September 2016. Among different things, investigators person examined whether Mr. Sussmann was secretly moving for the Clinton run — which helium denies.

An indictment is not a certainty: On uncommon occasions, expansive juries diminution prosecutors’ requests. But Mr. Sussmann’s lawyers, Sean M. Berkowitz and Michael S. Bosworth of Latham & Watkins, acknowledged connected Wednesday that they expected him to beryllium indicted, portion denying helium made immoderate mendacious statement.

“Mr. Sussmann has committed nary crime,” they said. “Any prosecution present would beryllium baseless, unprecedented and an unwarranted deviation from the apolitical and principled mode successful which the Department of Justice is expected to bash its work. We are assured that if Mr. Sussmann is charged, helium volition prevail astatine proceedings and vindicate his bully name.”

A spokesperson for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who has the authorization to overrule Mr. Durham but is said to person declined to, did not comment. Nor did a spokesperson for Mr. Durham.

The accusation against Mr. Sussmann focuses connected a gathering helium had connected Sept. 19, 2016, with James A. Baker, who was the F.B.I.’s apical lawyer astatine the time, according to the radical acquainted with the matter. They spoke connected information of anonymity.

Because of a five-year statute of limitations for specified cases, Mr. Durham has a deadline of this play to bring a complaint implicit enactment from that date.

At the meeting, Mr. Sussmann relayed information and investigation from cybersecurity researchers who thought that unusual net information mightiness beryllium grounds of a covert communications transmission betwixt machine servers associated with the Trump Organization and with Alfa Bank, a Kremlin-linked Russian fiscal institution.

The F.B.I. yet decided those concerns had nary merit. The peculiar counsel who aboriginal took implicit the Russia investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, ignored the substance successful his last report.

Mr. Sussmann’s lawyers person told the Justice Department that helium sought the gathering due to the fact that helium and the cybersecurity researchers believed that The New York Times was connected the verge of publishing an nonfiction astir the Alfa Bank information and helium wanted to springiness the F.B.I. a heads-up. (In fact, The Times was not acceptable to tally that article, but published 1 mentioning Alfa Bank six weeks later.)

Mr. Durham has been utilizing a expansive assemblage to analyse the Alfa Bank occurrence and appeared to beryllium hunting for immoderate grounds that the information had been cherry-picked oregon the investigation of it knowingly skewed, The New Yorker and other outlets person reported. To date, determination has been nary nationalist motion that helium has recovered immoderate specified evidence.

But Mr. Durham did seemingly find an inconsistency: Mr. Baker, the erstwhile F.B.I. lawyer, is said to person told investigators that helium recalled Mr. Sussmann saying that helium was not gathering him connected behalf of immoderate client. But successful a deposition earlier Congress successful 2017, Mr. Sussmann testified that helium sought the gathering connected behalf of an unnamed lawsuit who was a cybersecurity adept and had helped analyse the data.

Moreover, interior billing records Mr. Durham is said to person obtained from Perkins Coie are said to amusement that erstwhile Mr. Sussmann logged definite hours arsenic moving connected the Alfa Bank substance — though not the gathering with Mr. Baker — helium billed the clip to Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

Another spouse astatine Perkins Coie, Marc Elias, was past serving arsenic the wide counsel for the Clinton campaign. Mr. Elias, who did not respond to inquiries, left Perkins Coie past month.

In their effort to caput disconnected immoderate indictment, Mr. Sussmann’s lawyers are said to person insisted that their lawsuit was representing the cybersecurity adept helium mentioned to Congress and was not determination connected behalf of oregon astatine the absorption of the Clinton campaign.

They are besides said to person argued that the billing records are misleading due to the fact that Mr. Sussmann was not charging his lawsuit for enactment connected the Alfa Bank matter, but needed to amusement internally that helium was moving connected something. He was discussing the substance with Mr. Elias and the run paid a level monthly retainer to the firm, truthful Mr. Sussmann’s hours did not effect successful immoderate further charges, they said.

Last October, arsenic Mr. Durham zeroed successful the Alfa Bank matter, the researcher who brought those concerns to Mr. Sussmann hired a caller lawyer, Steven A. Tyrrell.

Speaking connected the information that The New York Times not sanction his lawsuit successful this article, citing a fearfulness of harassment, Mr. Tyrrell said his lawsuit thought Mr. Sussmann was representing him astatine the gathering with Mr. Baker.

“My lawsuit is an apolitical cybersecurity adept with a past of nationalist work who felt work bound to stock with instrumentality enforcement delicate accusation provided to him by D.N.S. experts,” Mr. Tyrrell said, referring to “Domain Name System,” a portion of however the net works and which generated the information that was the ground of the Alfa Bank concerns.

Mr. Tyrrell added: “He sought ineligible proposal from Michael Sussmann who had advised him connected unrelated matters successful the past and Mr. Sussmann shared that accusation with the F.B.I. connected his behalf. He did not cognize Mr. Sussmann’s instrumentality steadfast had a narration with the Clinton run and was simply doing the close thing.”

Supporters of Mr. Trump person agelong been suspicious of Perkins Coie. On behalf of Democrats, Mr. Elias commissioned a probe firm, Fusion GPS, to look into Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia. That resulted successful the alleged Steele dossier, a notorious compendium of rumors astir Trump-Russia ties. The F.B.I. cited immoderate accusation from the dossier successful botched wiretap applications.

Some of the questions that Mr. Durham’s squad has been asking successful caller months — including of witnesses it subpoenaed earlier a expansive jury, according to radical acquainted with immoderate of the sessions — suggest helium has been pursuing a mentation that the Clinton run utilized Perkins Coie to taxable dubious accusation to the F.B.I. astir Russia and Mr. Trump successful an effort to gin up investigative enactment to wounded his 2016 campaign.

Mr. Durham has besides seemingly weighed bringing immoderate benignant of enactment against Perkins Coie arsenic an organization. Outside lawyers for the steadfast precocious met with the peculiar counsel’s squad and went implicit the evidence, according to different radical acquainted with their discussions, arguing that it was insufficient for immoderate ineligible sanction.

The lawyers for Perkins Coie and the firm’s managing spouse did not respond to telephone calls and emails seeking comment.

Mr. Sussmann and his steadfast person been peculiar targets for Mr. Trump and his supporters.

In October 2018, a Wall Street Journal columnist attacked Mr. Sussmann, calling him the “point antheral for the firm’s D.N.C. and Clinton run accounts,” seemingly conflating him with Mr. Elias. Perkins Coie responded with a missive to the editor saying that was not Mr. Sussmann’s relation and that the unnamed lawsuit connected whose behalf helium spoke to the F.B.I. had “no connections to either the Clinton campaign, the D.N.C. oregon immoderate different governmental instrumentality radical client.”

Four months later, Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Sussmann by sanction successful a somewhat garbled brace of Twitter posts, trying to necktie him to the Clinton run and to the Steele dossier.

Raising the specter of politicization successful the Durham inquiry, lawyers for Mr. Sussmann are said to person argued to the Justice Department that Mr. Baker’s recollection was wrong, immaterial and excessively anemic a ground for a false-statements charge. There were nary different witnesses to the conversation, the radical acquainted with the substance said.

In a deposition to Congress successful 2018, Mr. Baker said helium did not retrieve Mr. Sussmann “specifically saying that helium was acting connected behalf of a peculiar client,” but besides said Mr. Sussmann had told him “he had cyberexperts that had obtained immoderate accusation that they thought should get into the hands of the F.B.I.”

However, Mr. Durham’s squad is said to person recovered handwritten notes made by different elder F.B.I. authoritative astatine the time, whom Mr. Baker briefed astir the speech with Mr. Sussmann, that enactment the conception that Mr. Sussmann said helium was not determination connected behalf of a client. It is not wide whether specified notes would beryllium admissible astatine proceedings nether the alleged hearsay rule.

A lawyer for Mr. Baker declined to comment.

Mr. Durham has been nether unit to present immoderate results from his long-running investigation, which began erstwhile then-Attorney General William P. Barr assigned him successful 2019 to analyse the Russia inquiry. Out of bureau and exiled from Twitter, Mr. Trump has issued statements fuming, “Where’s Durham?”