WASHINGTON, DC — Hillary Clinton personally authorized her campaign to share since-debunked computer data linking Donald Trump with a Russian bank, according to bombshell testimony from her 2016 campaign manager Friday.
Robby Mook, testifying as a witness in defense of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, told jurors that he discussed the matter with the Democratic nominee shortly before the that year’s presidential election.
Mook described his end of the conversation with Clinton as him telling her, “Hey, we have this and we want to share it with a reporter.”
“She agreed to that,” he said.
The stunning disclosures are the first evidence showing Clinton was aware of allegations of a purported secret back channel between a Trump Organization server and Russia’s Alfa Bank — before the theory emerged publicly eight days before the election.
Mook also acknowledged that the campaign hadn’t verified the accuracy of the data at the time.
“Part of the point of giving it to a reporter was they could run it down further,” he said.
“A reporter could vet the information and then decide to print it.”
Mook testified that he was first told about information purportedly showing a secret back channel between a Trump Organization server and Russia’s Alfa Bank by campaign general counsel Marc Elias. Mook added that he didn’t recall where the data came from.
AP
The campaign manager also said he discussed the matter with top aides John Podesta, Jake Sullivan and Jennifer Palmeri, apparently before going to Clinton.
The stunning disclosures came during cross-examination of Mook by a member of special counsel John Durham’s team in Washington, DC, federal court and prompted Judge Christopher Cooper to order the jury out of the courtroom so he could hold a sidebar discussion with both sides.
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