Former DNI Ratcliffe says he's given Durham 1,000 intel documents he thinks support more charges

Ratcliffe said former Justice official Michael Sussmann just "the first of what I would hope would be a number" of others charged in Russia probe.
John Ratcliffe in Sept. 2019

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe says he's given John Durham, special counsel investigating the Russia collusion probe, a trove of documents that he thinks support charges beyond those recently filed against cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussman. 

"Sussmann's is the first of what I would hope would be a number" of additional people charged, he told Fox News on Sunday.

Ratcliffe made the argument on what he said was "1,000 intelligence community documents" that he thinks support additional charges that he would "expect" Durham to bring, in addition to the declassified documents he's provided.

Durham, a former U.S Attorney for the District of Connecticut, was appointed by the Trump administration to look into the origins of the federal investigation into whether the 2016 Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the election. 

A grand jury recently indicted Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor, for lying to the FBI.

Ratcliffe, who oversaw the country's 17 intelligence agencies in the latter part of the Trump administration, announced in October that he handed over the roughly 1,000 pages of materials to the Justice Department to assist with Durham's investigation, according to the Washington Examiner.

Ratcliffe has also declassified two heavily redacted Russia-related documents, including handwritten notes from former CIA Director John Brennan showing he briefed then-President Barack Obama in 2016 on an unverified Russian intelligence report claiming former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton planned in July 2016 on tying then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia's hack of the Democratic National Committee to distract from her improper use of a private email server, the Examiner also reports

Sussmann, a former attorney at Perkins Coie, is accused of falsely telling an FBI lawyer he was not representing any clients when acting on behalf of a technology executive and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign during a September 2016 meeting on possible links between Trump and Russia. 

Sussmann has pleaded not guilty to the charge of lying to the FBI.

Durham has so far obtained one guilty plea — from former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to altering an email about a Trump campaign aide under government surveillance.