Merrick Garland, left, administers the oath to Christopher Cooper, right, with wife Amy Jeffress and sons, center, on July 11, 2014. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/The National Law Journal)
(…) Current and former officials say that federal District Court Judge Christopher Cooper’s professional and personal relationships with top Democrats and figures behind the FBI’s Trump investigation should force his recusal. Cooper’s wife, for instance, represents disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who oversaw the FBI’s Trump probe.
(…) Appointed to the bench by Obama in 2013, Cooper is well-connected in Democratic party legal circles. Garland officiated his 1999 wedding to Amy Jeffress.
Both Cooper and Jeffress worked at DOJ in the Obama administration. He was part of the 2008 presidential transition team, and she was the national security counselor for Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder.
Recently Jeffress wrote approvingly of Attorney General Garland’s focus on “domestic terrorism.” Many Republicans see the phrase as coded language for targeting Trump supporters.
Her most famous client, former FBI lawyer Page, discussed via text message with her paramour, FBI agent Peter Strzok, how they’d stop Trump from becoming president. Page and Strzok were part of the FBI team that spied on the 2016 Trump campaign.
As evidence to obtain the spy warrant, the FBI used a dossier of memos falsely alleging Trump ties to Russia that was paid for by the Clinton campaign. Sussman and Page then participated in the same Clinton-funded initiative to smear her 2016 opponent and use false evidence to spy on his campaign.
Former U.S. officials say that putting Sussmann in front of Jeffress’ husband represents a clear conflict of interest. (Read more: Just the News, 9/19/2021) (Archive)
The Washington Times raises a few good questions about the possible conflict of interest:
(…) The questions that come to mind as to whether Judge Cooper should recuse himself from the Sussmann case are common sense.
Is Lisa Page a witness in the Sussmann case?
Did Ms. Page or Mr. Strzok meet with Mr. Sussmann?
Did Mr. Baker discuss his meeting with Mr. Sussmann with Ms. Page?
Was Ms. Page involved in setting up Mr. Baker’s meeting with Mr. Sussmann?
Has Special Counsel Durham’s office interviewed Ms. Page?
Has Special Counsel Durham reviewed testimony Ms. Page has given in other investigations?
These are all matters that Ms. Page’s attorney would be involved in, and the American people deserve answers. Many believe that if this were a case involving a Republican-appointed judge in a trial concerning a Republican, a recusal would have been demanded and carried out long ago. The corporate mainstream media’s refusal to cover this double standard is just the latest failure in a parade of miscalculations involving their coverage of the Trump-Russia lie.
There should be a public debate about whether it is proper for Judge Cooper to preside in the case of the United States v. Michael Sussmann. To the average American, these connections raise concerns about whether there is one set of rules in our justice system for elitists and another set of rules for everyone else. After everything our country has endured since the 2016 election, all in the name of “getting” Mr. Trump by any means necessary, from the Mueller investigation to the Michael Flynn debacle, to the Carter Page FISA warrants, to Rep. Adam Schiff’s impeachment flop, it’s a good time for some honesty and transparency. That would help restore some trust.