Washington Examiner

The judge presiding over the case against Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann said he was "professional acquaintances" at the Department of Justice with Sussmann in the 1990s, and the judge's wife represents former FBI lawyer Lisa Page — issues special counsel John Durham's team has not raised to push for recusal.

The grand jury indictment against Sussmann, a former DOJ veteran, centers on a September 2016 meeting between him and then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in which Sussmann passed along allegations claiming there was a secret backchannel between Russia's Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization. While Durham says that Sussmann told Baker he was not working for any specific client, the special counsel contends Sussmann was secretly doing the bidding of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as well as working on behalf of a yet-unnamed technology company executive.

Page worked as a lawyer with Baker at the FBI and helped with the Crossfire Hurricane Trump-Russia investigation.

Judge Christopher Cooper, appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama following a unanimous Senate confirmation, was assigned the high-profile case. Cooper raised his relationship with Sussmann at the start of a Zoom call hearing on Wednesday, during which Sussmann made his first appearance at the district court following his “not guilty” plea last week.

“I worked in the 90s at the deputy attorney general’s office two years following law school. Mr. Sussmann also worked at the building at the same time in the criminal division. We did not work together or socialize, but I think it’s fair to say we were professional acquaintances,” Cooper said. “I don’t believe that this creates a conflict, but my regular practice is to disclose these sorts of relationships with lawyers or with parties on the record. And I would advise you that I would be happy to entertain a motion if either side believes there is a conflict on that basis or any other.”

Cooper was a special assistant to then-Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick from 1994 to 1996. He was later a volunteer for Obama For America in 2008, served as a member of the vice presidential candidate vetting team in the summer of 2008, which selected now-President Joe Biden, and served on President-elect Obama’s transition team from November 2008 to January 2009 as part of the DOJ agency review team.

Cooper and his wife, Amy Jeffress, were married in 1999, and Merrick Garland, now the attorney general, officiated their wedding.