A White House spokesperson on Monday declined to comment on Special counsel John Durham’s allegations that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) spied on former President Donald Trump’s residences and the White House when he was in office in order to bring a “narrative” to federal government agencies linking him to Russia.
But each time, the White House spokesperson referred her to the Department of Justice.
“Does the President have any concerns about a candidate for president using computer experts to infiltrate computer systems of competing candidates, or even the president-elect to—for the goal of creating a narrative?” Heinrich asked.
“That’s something I can’t speak to from this podium, so I refer you to the Department of Justice,” Jean-Pierre initially answered.
“Is what’s being described in that report—monitoring internet traffic—is that spying?” Heinrich then asked, to which Jean-Pierre responded, “Again, I can’t speak to that report. I refer you to the Department of Justice.”
Trying again to get an answer, Heinrich continued, “Generally speaking though, would monitoring Internet traffic be—” but was cut-off mid-sentence by Jean-Pierre who replied, “Jacqui, my answer is not going to change. I refer you to the Department of Justice.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment in a request from The Epoch Times.
Did you pay to spy on the Trump campaign,“ Hillary was asked by the reporter in New York City. ”When are you going to comment on the spying allegations, Hillary?”
Clinton declined to answer both questions and continued walking while waving at the reporter.
Durham’s team alleged that Michael Sussmann, a lawyer who had worked on behalf of the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, had “assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two specific clients, including a technology executive (Tech Executive 1) at a U.S.-based internet company (Internet Company 1) and the Clinton campaign,” according to a section in the court filing, titled ”Factual Background.”
Billing records he obtained reflect that Sussmann “repeatedly billed the Clinton Campaign for his work on the Russian Bank-1 allegations.”
Sussmann is currently charged with making a false statement to the FBI when he gave the agency false documents that allegedly linked the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.
He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in May.
“In connection with these efforts, Tech Executive-1 exploited his access to non-public and/or proprietary Internet data,” the filing stated. “Tech Executive-1 also enlisted the assistance of researchers at a U.S.-based university who were receiving and analyzing large amounts of Internet data in connection with a pending federal government cybersecurity research contract.”
The executive also “tasked these researchers to mine Internet data to establish ‘an inference’ and ‘narrative’ tying then-candidate Trump to Russia,” the filing states, adding that the executive’s employer “had come to access and maintain dedicated servers” for Trump’s executive office.
The technology executive was not named in the filing.
They also argued that the information that Sussmann provided to federal government agencies related to the Executive Office of the President concerned the time period when Democrat Barack Obama was still president, not Trump.
Trump has continuously denied that he had any business interests in Russia or colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election and asserts he is the target of a witch hunt.
