Despite Sussmann win, Bill Barr applauds Durham for showing truth on Clinton campaign, FBI

Former Attorney General Bill Barr defended special counsel John Durham after the acquittal of ex-Clinton Campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, saying the prosecutor was able to shed light on the Hillary Clinton campaign's "dirty trick" with the disproven Trump-Russia scandal and the related problems at the FBI. 

"No, I’m very proud of John Durham, and I do take responsibility for his appointment, and I think he and his team did an exceptionally able job, both digging out very important facts and presenting a compelling case to the jury," Barr told Fox News host Jesse Waters on Wednesday.

After Sussmann was acquitted of lying to the FBI, the jury forewoman told reporters that the case was a waste of time. 

"I don't think it should have been prosecuted," she said, according to The Washington Times. "There are bigger things that affect the nation than a possible lie to the FBI."

Durham told Waters that while Durham "did not succeed in getting a conviction from the D.C. jury, I think he accomplished something far more important, which is he brought out the truth in two important areas.

"First, I think he crystalized the central role played by the Hillary campaign in launching, as a dirty trick, the whole Russiagate Collusion narrative and fanning the flames of it," Barr explained. 

"And second, I think he exposed really dreadful behavior by the supervisors in the FBI... who knowingly used this information to start an investigation of [former President Donald] Trump and then duped their own agents by lying to them and refusing to tell them what the real source of that information was," Barr said, adding, "And that was appalling."

The fact that Sussmann was not convicted should remind the public that "the attorney general does not have the power to throw people in jail because the attorney general believes, even with a high degree of confidence, that people have acted improperly," Barr said, stressing the importance of a fair jury trial. 

He observed that the D.C. jury that oversaw the Sussmann case was a "very favorable jury for anyone named Clinton."

More than 92% of votes in Washington, D.C., went to Clinton in 2016. Trump received just over 4% of the vote, according to Politico.

Barr noted, "If we can get convictions, if they are achievable, then John Durham will achieve them, but the other aspect of this is to get the story out."