Russiagate: Weissman Strikes Back

John Solomon at JTN, In bringing first Russiagate charge, Durham hints at other crimes

But within the four-plus page criminal information filed in U.S. District Court, Durham also laid out evidence of an additional crime that could be prosecuted in the coming weeks.

The court filing notes that Clinesmith "willfully and knowingly" altered a document in June 2017 to falsely claim that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page — one of the main targets of the Russia collusion probe and identified in the court document as "Individual #1" — was not a source for the CIA, identified in the court documents as "Other Government Agency" or "OGA." In reality, Page was a CIA asset.

Clinesmith-Document-2020-08-14.pdf
The filing says Clinesmith's misdeed caused the FBI to mislead the Justice Department and the FISA court when filing an application for the last of four surveillance warrants that targeted Page for over a year.

But Durham also reveals in the filing that the FBI Crossfire Hurricane team — led by since-fired Agent Peter Strzok — had already been told of Page's relationship with the CIA all the way back in August 2016 and failed to tell the FISA court that essential information about Page before the three prior FISA warrants were approved.

Such a failure is known as a material omission because the FBI was claiming they believed Page was an agent of Russia when in fact he was an asset of the U.S. government helping to inform on Russian intelligence targets. In other words, had the FBI not omitted the truth, the judges would have known before they approved even the first FISA warrant that Page was a CIA-handled source, not a Russian stooge.

Twitchy, Mollie Hemingway uses NPR’s spin on FBI lawyer’s guilty plea to show how ‘our media are completely and utterly corrupt’  and at Da Fed, Mollie Hemingway: We Are Finally Seeing Some Measure Of Accountability For Russian Collusion Hoax

“For years there were a group of opponents of President Trump who work together to spread a false and damaging conspiracy theory that Trump and his campaign were Russian operatives who had stolen the election,” Hemingway explained.

“This was something that was spread day after day for years. It was weaponized by the federal government and its law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It was spread in part through the Democratic Party and the “Never Trump” movement and it was enabled through co-conspirators in the media who willfully took anonymous leaks to spread this false and dangerous theory,” she added.

From Sean Davis at Da Fed,  Carter Page: Corrupt FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith ‘Put My Very Life At Risk’. I wonder if the doctrine of qualified immunity prevents Carter Page from personally suing Kevin Clinesmith?

“Clinesmith, his organization, and their associates put my very life at risk, leading to abusive calls and death threats because of my personal opinions and support for President Trump,” Page told The Federalist. “There is a long way to go on the road to restoring justice in America, but certainly a good first step has now been taken.”

Clinesmith, In Order to Save Himself, Has Implicated Others on Crossfire Hurricane — Who Ultimately Hid the Exculpatory Info From the FISA Court? said Gateway Pundit, hopefully.

'Shipwreckedcrew' at Red State has some lawyerly analysis: FBI Attorney Clinesmith Did NOT Enter a Guilty Plea On Friday To the Filed Information — That Is Not Normal

Normally the Information and a Memorandum of Plea Agreement are filed simultaneously, and the filing of the two documents is the basis upon which the district judge to whom the case is assigned will schedule a hearing to for entry of the guilty plea. The arrangements are normally coordinated in advance of the filing — a simple telephone call to the Chambers of the assigned Judge is all that it takes after the papers are filed. Typically the hearing takes place the same day as the filing where — as here — the filing happens in the morning.

But no Plea Agreement was filed yesterday. One explanation might be that the random assignment of a judge resulted in the case being assigned to District Court Judge James Boasberg, who was recently named by Chief Justice Robert as the Chief Judge of the FISC. Judge Boasberg has been handling the “Clean-Up on Aisle Four” mess that was the fall-out from the IG Report on Four FISAs, overseeing the FBI/DOJ revisions of the procedures by with FISA Applications are reviewed and submitted, as well as making determinations as to what sanctions/discipline might be imposed on officials who participated in the Page FISA. It would be inappropriate for Judge Boasberg to now preside over the criminal case filed against Kevin Clinesmith with is part and parcel of the wider abuse of the FISA process by the FBI/DOJ in conducting the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation.

Hopefully, we will see the Plea Agreement next week, which will include — maybe — a more detailed factual recounting of Clinesmith’s crimes as part of his admission and guilty plea to the charge set forth in the Information.

But guess who is sticking up for the FBI attorney who altered evidence to obtain a FISA warrant in order to keep the investigation into Page (and by the two hope rule, essentially all of the Trump campaign and administration) open? From Marty Johnson on Da Hill, Mueller deputy Weissmann criticizes DOJ for bringing case against ex-FBI lawyer. Hmm, I wonder if the criminal behavior extends to Weissman. He was involved in Crossfire Hurricane from the beginning, before Mueller was picked to "oversee" it.

Questions judge should ask before accepting Clinesmith guilty plea:
What precisely is the falsity of the statement that Clinesmith made?
What investigation was it material to?
He gave DOJ accurate information for the Page FISA?
How does the Barr materiality std for Flynn apply?

— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) August 14, 2020

Twitchy, ‘Spinning like a tilt-a-whirl’: Andrew Weissman hints at what John Durham may be up to, and Mollie Hemingway has thoughts

The partisan @AWeissmann_ who actually ran "Mueller" probe claims that nowhere is it said Carter Page was a source for the CIA! In fact, this has been publicly known since December 2019, when explained in detail in IG report. Extremely troubling that he's pretending otherwise. pic.twitter.com/plW2fhZp2Y

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 16, 2020

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Major Development In Durham Probe Ignored During CNN, MSNBC Primetime Coverage. But, of course. Can't confuse the true believers with the truth.

From RCP, Nunes: Obama And Biden Targeted Michael Flynn, Didn't Want Someone Who Fully Understood Intelligence Advising Trump



Reuters, Manhattan DA says Trump not entitled to extra protection from grand-jury subpoena. I wonder what he'll say when Joe and Hunter Biden are subpoenaed.