Trump Reacts To Bombshell Testimony That Hillary Clinton Spread Russia Allegations

Donald Trump reacted to a recent testimony out of the trial of Michael Sussmann. According to the testimony, Hillary Clinton was the one who approved the dissemination of false information alleging a covert communications channel between the former President's Trump Organization and a Russian bank to the press.

Trump's reaction came after Robby Mook, former Clinton campaign manager, testified on Friday. According to the New York Post, Mook said that shortly before the 2016 election, Clinton “agreed” to share with a reporter since-discredited allegations of a secret back channel between a server of the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. The testimony was a part of the first criminal trial out of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.

On Thursday, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) General Counsel James Baker testified that the bureau investigated the data alleging a Trump connection to the Kremlin-linked bank. They found that "there was nothing there."

Trump told Fox News that the entire Russia investigation is "one of the greatest political scandals in history." He said that for three years, he had to fight Clinton off, and fight those "crooked people off, and you’ll never get your reputation fully back." The former President asked, "Where do I get my reputation back?"

He noted that the intelligence community and law enforcement resources devoted to investigating him and members of his 2016 campaign distracted officials from what "could have been a real danger with Russia."

In July 2016, the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Presidential candidate Trump and his campaign members were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the campaign in 2016. The investigation was known as Crossfire Hurricane, and was handed off to Special Counsel Robert Mueller after Trump got elected. Mueller was appointed in 2017, and after nearly two years, his investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the election in 2016.

Meanwhile, a former US Justice Department official told the New York Post that the new bombshell testimony was part of a chess-like maneuver to “protect the queen.” Mook’s Friday revelation, which he quickly tried to walk back, meshed with other testimony in which he and former campaign general counsel Marc Elias said that they were not aware that campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann planned to also provide the information to the FBI, said Jim Trusty.

Trusty said that the strategy was to "Protect the Queen!," and that the "Knights (lawyers for the campaign, the campaign manager) have drawn the line – admitting what they have to admit.”