FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith Pleads Guilty To Falsifying Carter Page FISA Warrant
By: Sean Davis (The Federalist)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A top FBI lawyer who fabricated evidence in a federal spy warrant against Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page is expected to plead guilty to federal charges brought by U.S. Attorney John Durham. Kevin Clinesmith, who is expected to admit to deliberately fabricating evidence in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant application, used to spy on a former campaign affiliate of President Donald Trump, was a top attorney in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Office of General Counsel (OGC) and a key agency attorney under fired former FBI Director James Comey.
Clinesmith is the first individual to be charged as part of U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the efforts in 2016 and 2017 to spy on the Trump campaign and Trump administration. Both Durham and Attorney General William Barr stated at the conclusion of the OIG investigation of the Page FISA warrants that they had reason to believe the entire investigation of Trump, which allegedly began in late July of 2016, was not legally predicated. Durham was tapped by Barr in May of 2019 to investigate the Russian collusion hoax and determine whether any criminal charges against those who perpetrated it were warranted.
Clinesmith's deliberate falsification of a federal spy warrant was first revealed last December following a lengthy investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG), headed by Michael Horowitz. Horowitz and his team wrote in a 434-page report that Clinesmith — identified in the report as "OGC Attorney" — altered an email from a separate U.S. federal agency, believed to be the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to falsely state that Page had never worked with the CIA to investigate suspected Russia agents operating within the U.S. In fact, as Clinesmith was told by the operative, Page had worked with the CIA previously, as well as with the FBI.
According to the OIG report, Clinesmith "[o]mitted Page's prior relationship with another U.S. government agency, despite being reminded by the other agency in June 2017, prior to the filing of the final [FISA warrant] renewal application, about Page's past status with that other agency."
"Instead of including this information in the final renewal application," the OIG report stated, Clinesmith "altered an email from the other agency so that the email stated that Page was 'not a source' for the other agency, which the FBI affiant relied upon in signing the final renewal application."
Following the completion of the OIG investigation into the abuse of the FISA process by Comey and his lieutenants, the federal court that reviews FISA warrants ruled that at least two of the four applications against Page were illegal, including the application that included Clinesmith's fabricated claim that Page never previously assisted the CIA. Page's previous work for the federal government was a key issue given that each of the FISA warrants used to spy on him falsely claimed that he was an illegal Russian agent working on behalf of the Kremlin. Page was never formally charged with any wrongdoing.
Clinesmith's name first made national news after his anti-Trump text messages to another FBI attorney, Sally Moyer, surfaced following a separate OIG investigation of anti-Trump bias from top FBI attorneys and investigators.
"I'm just devastated," Clinesmith texted to Moyer shortly after Trump won the presidential election in November of 2016. "Plus, my god damned name is all over the legal documents investigating his staff," Clinesmith wrote.
"Is it making you rethink your commitment to the Trump administration?" Moyer later asked Clinesmith, ostensibly referring to Clinesmith's plan to remain at the FBI after Trump's inauguration.
"Hell no," Clinesmith responded. "Viva le resistance."
Sean Davis is the co-founder of The Federalist.
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The Clinesmith guilty plea is expected today.
The first to fall!
Then why did you choose a source that says he already plead guilty in it's headline?
According to the Fox story just published 27 minutes ago he intends to plead guilty but has not yet done so...
Same with ABC, and a dozen other news stories.
Because I knew this story would break today. This story was the first I came across. His lawyer has already acknowledged that Clinesmith would plead guilty today.
Do you really want to fight on that hill?
I'll be more than happy to update it as soon as the Trump hater officially makes his plea
Is that the same story the Times used?
Please note Post # 7
All one has to do is hover their mouse over a link to see where it is from....
I saw it wise guy - I asked if the Times used it - Just say you don't know!
I would say if you are asking, you don't know.
I would say that if you believe you are somehow bringing "truth" to "our readers",
then you could look for another source that has a truthful headline.
Clinesmith could get cold feet and change his mind, who knows?
Just looking out for your credibility...
Politico usually gets it wrong.
So are you here to claim that this is the end of it? Then go ahead and make that claim, but one more veiled insult from you and I start deleting.
I made zero threats and you were the one insulting.
I tend to doubt that. I think you are looking at this story through a lense of anger.
You saw what Clinesmith was charged with, right?
You clearly tried to insult me twice. Don't try it again.
Ok wise guy....
Is that an insult? If so you need to delete your own comment....
That was more than appropriate after being told to "just run your curser over it"
Iv'e been very tolerant of you, either you discuss topic or you will be deleted.
Anger? I am not that invested, lol.
Yes, and I saw AG Barr last night and he stated it was not earth shattering news.
I trust he is correct.
Just red meat for the edges...
I was on topic, just used a source, which you accused of being the same as the times.
If one had looked. you would notice two different writers and two different publications.
Never once insulted you yet you did me....
Correct. And that's all you took from that? See the way I saw it was - it's not big as compared to what's coming!
I am not that invested, lol.
LMAO! If you weren't invested you wouldn't be downplaying it, nor would you quibble about what is going to happen today.
Let's just end it by my acceptance of you saying you had no intention of insulting.
That leaves the topic.
So, you are saying the investigation is over?
Where in the posted story are those charges? Projecting much?
The story is that he intends to plead guilty to "altering an official document".
Nothing about lying under oath or spying on the POTUS.
As far as this charge against Clinesmith, it was in IG Horowitz's report published Dec 19,2019.
Old news...
Yes, and let us make sure everyone understands it:
"According to court records and people familiar with the case, Mr. Clinesmith received an email from the CIA explaining that Mr. Page had been approved as an operational contact and had provided some information to the agency in the past.
Mr. Clinesmith forwarded that email to an FBI agent and added the phrase “and was not a ‘source” to the email, making it look like that language had come from the CIA."
In other words the man the FBI was claiming to be consorting with Russians actually was an operational contact for the CIA and they knew it!!!!
His civil liberties were violated and his reputation ruined, all to bring down Trump.
That is what I thought. It was all already documented in the IG report.
The weird thing in all of this is Page is still a nutjob.
I'm glad to hear that we recall what was in the IG report. I recall people saying there was nothing there.
I never said there was nothing there. I just think none of it shows any grand conspiracy to get donald.
That's like McDonalds denying the existence of the Hamburger. People spied on and framed, an investigation of the President without a pretext, Susan Rice writting a memo to herself which essentially says we didn't order it and you just don't see it?
Vic ,
I have read this thread and in no way did I see any comment from ender that was insulting.
Perrie, if you asked me if my linked article was used by the Times and I said "just run your cursor over it" - you wouldn't feel insulted?
I don't know why you want to bring it back into the conversation?
Ender said he never mean't it as an insult, I accepted that and we moved on.
His reputation is not and was not ruined.
He is most likely entitled to monetary damages, but overall his net worth is reported to be between 20 and 600 million.
Hardly ruined.
Gee, now It is I who is worrying about your credibility. You are telling us that the American people have been informed that Page was not a Russian agent? I just don't hear CNN and MSNBC or the Times & Post making that known. How many Americans still believe that Donald Trump conspired with Russia? How many congressional democrats still claim it?
The sad fact is that most of the American media was complicit in the attempt to remove a President. They lied to the American people for three years. That's a big clean up and the media hasn't really tried to clean it up.
Thanks
Where did I state that?
I don't believe that many people care or that it is up to those entities to "make it known".
Probably 45% imho.
Don't know, don't care.
That is your opinion.
I assume that is what you meant by "his reputation is not ruined." Am I to believe that you don't think the media made him out to be a Russian agent?
I don't believe that many people care or that it is up to those entities to "make it known".
Oh, but they do. They have a moral obligation to correct the record they got so wrong. As to your opinion that "people simply don't care", you'd feel differently, I'm sure if it was you who were slandered by the national media.
Probably 45% imho
Does that concern you at all?
Don't know, don't care.
Somehow, I'm not surprised.
That is your opinion.
That is now a historical fact!
Are you surprised?
Forging evidence to spy on Americans is not something that apparently bothers progressives.
So in June of 2017, a lower-level attorney for the FBI mistakenly added something to an email and then forwarded it to his supervisor. According to his lawyer he thought he was forwarding correct information as he knew it.
The horror...
Other reporting says that Justice Dept. IG Horowitz knew about the error last year, but didn't think it changed anything about the validity of the surveillance. The Durham investigation is basically grasping at straws here.
Not earth shattering is an understatement. It's also not even close to falsifying a warrant himself, as the headline states. Leave it to the Federalist to spread misinformation.
That's not a crime. If he "mistakenly" did it, he wouldn't be charged.
Yeah, right. Durham's bad-faith investigation is just about vengeance, and trying to find some way to rewrite history. He'll probably be charging people over typos in emails next.
The charges might very well go nowhere, you know, even if he pleads guilty to making the mistake. It's not like this guy had much power, or was making important decisions or anything.
So he mistakenly sent a piece of bad info up to his supervisor. I don't think we know all the details yet, but it's possible he thought he was correcting an error.
IG Horowitz didn't think it was very important when he found out about it last year. Apparently, it's not nearly the big deal it's being made out to be. It's not like this guy was actually issuing the warrants.
I am sure you know better than to assume...
and I believe the FBI and CIA believed he was a double agent...and set about to prove or disprove it as is their obligation.
Still, just your opinion.
It is.
Mistakes are not crimes, and if you read what he did, you'd know it wasn't a mistake.
Except, Page was actively trying to sell his insider information on the Trump campaign to the Russian government. Just because he called himself a consultant instead of a spy does not mean our intelligence agencies should not have been concerned and have investigated, especially since Page was interacting with known Russian agents. To have not investigated Page would have been dereliction of duty on the part of our FBI and CIA.
Is this from some progressive version of Carter Page fan fiction?
The FBI agent altered an email to obtain a warrant. If it actually would have been a "dereliction of duty" to not investigate him, they wouldn't have had to make up and conceal evidence to justify survailing him, would they? You should read the IG report if you want to understand what actually happened.
"Mistakenly"????
Other reporting says that Justice Dept. IG Horowitz knew about the error last year, but didn't think it changed anything about the validity of the surveillance. The Durham investigation is basically grasping at straws here.
That was the assessment from the left to the IG report. Nothing to see there. It turns out the IG conducted a limited investigation, but the little he found was damning.
Not earth shattering is an understatement.
You can keep blowing it off. They got caught doing exactly what Nunes and others have claimed for 3 fuckin years!
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We're all hiding behind POLITICO today!
The first to fall!
And probably not the last
Sally Yates said "Comey went rouge!"
Not much news coverage. Do you think Comey is "yawning" right now?
Modern News is about publicizing the Democratic narrative. This doesn't fit, so it gets ignored.
Imagine, for a second, if the parties involved were reversed and Trump's FBI did this to Biden's campaign. The outrage and media firestorm would make Watergate look like the excitement surrounding the openening of a new Wendys.
We'd have non-stop coverage!
oh no!!!
[DELETED]
Where are the people who always ask when?
Here is the first!
Don't be afraid.
Cowering and desperately looking for counter talking points (better know as yeahbuts) maybe??? Does appear they sent an ambassador..............
This is a real yawner.
You'd be saying that if they found a tape of Obama ordering Trump's assassination.
You can always tell when John starts the "yawner" and "nothingburger" routine it is, in fact a big deal.
The FBI forged evidence to spy on an associate of a rival campaign.
It's incredible how far and how fast the Democratic Party has fallen from the party of civil liberties to the authoritarian party that supports any action, no matter how hideous, if it helps the party.
Party over the people and the Constitution every time for Democrats.
"Intel source just described NYT's writeup of Clinesmith story as "Beyond Pravda." "This totally insults my intelligence."....Mollie Hemingway
Thank you Mollie.
It seems the Times is lying again!
I like to see the system finally working, but it is frustrating that it took so much time and effort. In the meantime, so many bells have been rung that can't be unrung. Not that there will be any effort on that front. The press invested their entire energies into presenting the scandal and they won't put 1/1000 the effort into admitting it was all bullshit.
Nope, they just can't come clean!
Here is how NPR reported this story:
"FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith plans to plead guilty to charges related to information-gathering involving the Trump campaign and Russia four years ago, according to his lawyer. It's the first criminal charges associated with how the Russian investigation was conducted."
Related to information-gathering??????
He plead guilty to falsifying evidence against Trump operative Carter Page!!!!
NPR is corrupt!
This is a witch hunt. It's fake ........a hoax