Time has come for the sentencing of Kevin Clinesmith, the Mueller team lawyer who altered an email from the CIA which named Carter Page as a CIA source on Russia to say that Page was not a source and passed it to an FBI agent to be included in a FISA warrant. The crime was found by IG Horowitz, and was a slam dunk for US Prosecutor John Durham.
Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, John Durham and ex-FBI lawyer duel over prison sentence for FISA email deception
Newly appointed special counsel John Durham and fired FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith filed dueling court filings on Thursday, with the former Crossfire Hurricane attorney trying to dodge any jail time and the federal prosecutor asking the court to sentence him to up to six months in prison after he pleaded guilty to FISA email deception.
Clinesmith, who worked on the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and on the FBI’s Trump-Russia inquiry as well as special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, admitted in August that he falsified a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority to wiretap Carter Page, who had been a foreign policy adviser to now-President Trump's 2016 campaign. Clinesmith fraudulently edited a CIA email in 2017 to state that Page was “not a source” for the agency when the CIA had told the bureau on multiple occasions that Page had been an “operational contact” for them.
“As a licensed attorney and an officer of the Court, the defendant took an oath, was bound by professional and ethical obligations, and should have been well-aware of this duty of candor ... His deceptive conduct ... was antithetical to the duty of candor and eroded the FISC’s confidence in the accuracy of all previous FISA applications worked on by the defendant,” Durham wrote on Thursday, adding, “The defendant’s conduct also undermined the integrity of the FISA process and struck at the very core of what the FISC fundamentally relies on in reviewing FISA applications.”
“The government respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration that is at least between the middle and upper end of the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range is appropriate and warranted,” Durham said. “This case is outside the heartland of typical cases under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 [false statements], and such a sentence would reflect the seriousness of the offense.”
In a filing that included more than 55 letters of support from Clinesmith’s family, friends, and colleagues, his lawyer argued for leniency.
“Kevin Clinesmith made a grievous mistake. By altering a colleague’s email, he cut a corner in a job that required far better of him. He failed to live up to the FBI’s and his own high standards of conduct. And he committed a crime. Kevin pled guilty and accepts full responsibility. He deeply regrets his conduct and apologizes to all those who have been affected — including his former colleagues, the FBI, the DOJ, the Court, the public, and his family,” Clinesmith’s lawyer said.
Clinesmith’s lawyer said his client “knew the original email did not contain those additional words, and he knew that the agent would, upon receiving the forwarded email, believe that it did.”
“Significantly, however, Kevin did not knowingly lie about the relationship between Individual #1 and the other government agency. When Kevin informed the agent (and others) that Individual #1 was not a source, he genuinely believed he was conveying accurate information,” Clinesmith’s lawyer also contended. “Kevin’s reputation has been ruined, his professional career is in shambles, and he has been unable to support his family financially at a time when he and his wife are expecting their first child. While he has nobody but himself to blame for those consequences, they are, in conjunction with a non-custodial sentence, a just punishment for Kevin’s critical lapse in judgment.” He requested probation and community service.
Clinesmith will be sentenced by the presiding judge on Dec. 10.
Curiously, or perhaps not, the presiding judge is "Jeb" Boasberg, who also the Presiding Judge of the FISA Court. Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Durham Seeks Jail Time For Ex-FBI Lawyer Who Altered CIA Email About Carter Page. Much like Insty, SORRY, I’M UNMOVED. FBI lawyer who lied to surveil Trump aide asks judge to spare him from prison. I don't necessarily want to see Clinesmith in jail, but I do want to see a heavy penalty as an example. Loss of his law license at the minimum, and a heavy financial penalty, to repay DOJ for time and trouble in the investigation and prosecution and especially to repay Carter Page for his legal costs, and reputational and financial losses.
In other Durham related news, high praise to William Barr from never-Trumper Benjamin Wittes, who said Barr’s Appointment Of Durham Was ‘Devilishly Clever’ (John Sexton at Hot Air)
The more I study what Attorney General Bill Barr did in his secret October order naming the Connecticut U.S. attorney as a special counsel, the more devilishly clever it seems—and the bigger the pickle it creates for Barr’s successor. This, presumably, is Barr’s intention. Untangling this knot is going to take no small amount of diplomacy, lawyering and finesse. And a false move in any of several directions could create a real mess.
But just to be sure, ‘Non-Negotiable’: GOP Senators Say Biden’s Pick For Attorney General Must Preserve Durham Probe (Chick Ross at Da Caller). Better win at least one of those Georgia seats.
Neal Katyal at NYT whines I Wrote the Special Counsel Rules. Barr Has Abused Them.
Alex Nitzberg at JTN Director of National Intelligence says he has given 'thousands of documents to John Durham', Sundance at CTH, DNI John Ratcliffe States He Has Produced Thousands of Declassified Documents For Special Counsel John Durham to Use. Let's hope he uses them well. But as Ratcliffe warns, We can't declassify all of Russiagate's secrets (Jerry Dunleavy, WaEx). But we can declassify a lot more.
Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Senate Committees Release A Treasure Trove Of Trump-Russia Documents. C'mon! Give us the juicy stuff!
And no longer in legal jeopardy, Gen. Michael Flynn is free to talk. PM, WATCH: General Flynn explains how he was targeted by Obama's intel community to Dan Bongino
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