Judge denies ex-Clinton campaign lawyer Sussmann's request to dismiss Durham charged he lied to FBI

A federal judge has denied the request by former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann to dismiss the case against him by Special Counsel John Durham, allowing the trial to begin in May as scheduled.

The ruling was made Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, allowing the scheduled May 23 trial to begin. 

Sussmann in February filed a motion to dismiss the case, which alleges he made a false statement to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016, less than two months before the presidential election, by saying during their meeting that he was not doing work "for any client."

Durham's case states that Sussmann when presenting purported information that connected the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Moscow, he was working for the Clinton campaign and a technology industry client.

Sussmann in his request to have the case dismissed in part argued that if he had lied it could not have influenced the FBI on whether to initiate an investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion. 

Cooper rejected that argument.

“As the Special Counsel argues, it is at least possible that statements made to law enforcement prior to an investigation could materially influence the later trajectory of the investigation," he wrote in his six-page decision. “Sussmann offers no legal authority to the contrary."