Jan 29, 2021 · Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The FBI lawyer who admitted to falsifying an e-mail to renew a wiretap against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was spared jail time and sentenced to a year...
Jan 29, 2021 · WASHINGTON – Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who altered an email during the Russia investigation that was used to justify the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, was...
Dec 03, 2020 · WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email during the Russia investigation “made a grievous mistake” but should be spared prison time and given probation instead, his attorneys said in a sentencing memorandum Thursday. Kevin Clinesmith admitted in August to having altered an email that was being used in support of an …
Exit Full Screen. WASHINGTON – Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who altered an email during the Russia investigation that was used to justify the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, was sentenced to one-year probation on Friday. Clinesmith, who worked for the FBI for four years, pleaded guilty last summer ...
The case against Clinesmith was the first to be brought by federal prosecutor John Durham, who was appointed by former Attorney General William Barr to review the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation.
Clinesmith's sentencing had been delayed as Page sought to be recognized as a victim in the case and to be allowed to speak during the sentencing hearing . A half-dozen Trump associates who were indicted as a result of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
During sentencing, Clinesmith said he was "ashamed" of his actions, adding that it had "harmed the very institutions that I cherish and admire.". "I have a duty to take responsibility for my actions and mistakes," Clinesmith told the court.
Before his last day in office Trump granted clemency to Paul Manafort, a Trump campaign manager in 2016 who was convicted of defrauding banks; George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who admitted lying to the FBI; and Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.
Trump commuted the sentence of longtime political adviser Roger Stone just days before he was set to report to prison after being convicted of lying to Congress and obstructing the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. PARDONS: Trump pardons Steve Bannon.
Prosecutors said Page's status as a CIA source undermined investigators' belief that he was acting as an agent of a foreign power and should've been disclosed to the judge. Clinesmith's attorneys said he did not knowingly lie about Page's relationship with the CIA.
On June 19, 2017 , Clinesmith altered the email he received from the OGA Liaison by adding the words “not a source,” and then forwarded the email to the FBI SSA. Relying on the altered email, on June 29, 2017, the SSA signed and submitted the fourth FISA application to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Clinesmith was assigned to provide legal support to FBI personnel working on Crossfire Hurricane, and he assisted FBI personnel with applications prepared by the FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division to conduct surveillance under the FISA.
Mueller report: FBI lawyer 'altered email' to wiretap Trump aide. An ex-FBI lawyer is expected to admit falsifying a document that was used as part of the inquiry into alleged Russian interference with the 2016 US presidential election. Kevin Clinesmith's plea deal comes as prosecutors investigate the origins of the investigation by Robert Mueller.
The review of the Mueller investigation which began last year is being overseen by US Attorney General William Barr and run by US federal prosecutor John Durham. He was tasked with determining whether the collection of intelligence on the Trump campaign in 2016 was lawful. media caption. The Mueller report - in 60 seconds.
A justice department inspector general report in December 2019 did find "serious performance failures" in the FBI counterintelligence inquiry, but no evidence of political bias. The report found "17 significant errors or omissions" in the FBI applications to spy on Mr Page. However, the watchdog said there was "no documentary or testimonial ...
May 2019: Robert Mueller says in his first public remarks that his report does not exonerate President Trump, and announces his resignation. July 2019: Mueller appears before Congress and reaffirms that his report does not exonerate Mr Trump.
The email which Clinesmith edited was originally sent to him by the CIA and was to be forwarded to the FISA court. Clinesmith’s revisions painted the picture that the intelligence organization did not deem Page a source, despite him being a CIA “operation contact” for five years. THE MORNING JOLT.
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith and his legal team have agreed to a one-year law license suspension in Washington, D.C., after the official was found guilty in August 2020 of illegally modifying a statement relating to the Russiagate investigation and scandal, according to new bar records.
The office acknowledged Clinesmith’s record of “distinguished public service,” claiming he was not moved by “any personal financial, economic or commercial motive” when he committed the infraction. It said that his case “involves only a single incident, not a pattern of misconduct.”.
Clinesmith pleaded guilty in court to the charge that he had doctored an email that was presented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) in 2017 concerning whether or not former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had been a “source” for the CIA.
The case is the first criminal charge to stem from the ongoing probe by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham into the origins of the Russia investigation.
Former FBI lawyer pleads guilty in first criminal charge from Durham probe. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on Wednesday, admitting he doctored an email that was submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as part of a FISA application used to surveil former Trump campaign ...
Clinesmith, 38, worked for four years as an assistant general counsel in the National Security and Cyber Law branch at the FBI.
In a virtual court hearing on Wednesday, Clinesmith told the judge that at the time he had understood the information he changed to be true. "At the time, I believed that the information I was providing in the email was accurate," Clinesmith explained.
A lawyer for the attorney, Kevin Clinesmith, said he had not intended to mislead anyone. A former FBI attorney is preparing to plead guilty to altering an email used to obtain a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, producing the first concrete results of a review Attorney General William Barr ordered into ...
Trump has urged Barr and Durham to investigate former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden, but Barr has indicated the probe will not reach them. Trump has been almost uniformly supportive of Barr in public, but in an interview this week, the president hinted at some concern that the attorney general was being too timid in ...
Last month, former Attorney General Bill Barr appointed Durham as special counsel to continue investigating the origins of the Russia probe through the Biden Administration. Barr notified the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, in a letter dated Dec. 1 obtained by Fox News, that Durham would be special counsel.
It is unclear, at this point, who those prosecutors are. Fox News reported in May that Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri who was tapped by the Justice Department in February to review the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was helping with Durham’s investigation.
President Trump pardoned Flynn last month. Also in May, Fox News reported that now former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea was also assisting with components of Durham’s investigation.
The Justice Department relied on Clinesmith’s assertion as it submitted a third and final renewal application in 2017 to eavesdrop on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Justice Department’s charging document stated that Clinesmith "did willfully and knowingly make and use a false writing and document, ...