US Attorney John Durham, heading up a probe into the origins of the “Russian collusion” scandal, is recommending a six month prison sentence for an FBI lawyer who was caught altering documents.
Durham Recommends Six Months For Clinesmith
Kevin Clinesmth, an ex-FBI lawyer, pled guilty in August of this year for altering an email relating to Carter Page, a former Trump campaign spokesman.
As a result, US Attorney Durham has asked a federal judge in a court filing on Thursday to sentence Clinesmith to “between the middle and upper end” of sentencing guidelines for his crime of making false statements.
The penalty could work out to six months in prison.
Page was being investigated as part of the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane,” the investigation into alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In 2016, the CIA had informed the FBI that Page had worked as an “operational contact” for the agency from 2008-2013.
This information was not included during the initial FISA warrant for Page, one of 17 failings that were detected by the Inspector General’s office.
NEW: U.S. Attorney John Durham is seeking a prison sentence for Kevin Clinesmith–the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email from the CIA about former Trump campaign aide Carter Page–for up to 6 months.https://t.co/2msLCeTZnU
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) December 4, 2020
RELATED: Report: Durham Investigation Into Origins Of The Russian Probe Are Moving ‘Full Steam Ahead’
“Political Or Personal Bias” Against The Trump Campaign
In June 2017, Clinesmith inquired about Page to the CIA, in regards to an application to renew surveillance on him.
He added the words “not a ‘source’” into the email from a CIA liaison, and then shared this altered email with FBI higher ups.
Durham has argued that Clinesmith made the alteration about Page due to “political or personal bias” against President Trump and his 2016 campaign team.
“At the time I believed the information I was providing in the email was accurate, but I am agreeing that the information I inserted into the email was not already there,” Clinesmith said during his August plea hearing.
Clinesmith’s lawyers said that their client had “made a grievous mistake” when he altered the email, and now “accepts full responsibility” for his actions.
Clinesmith has admitted however that the FBI discovering that Page was a CIA source would have “drastically” changed how the FBI would have handled their FISA applications at the time of the investigation.
New – Kevin Clinesmith files his sentencing memo.
Claim: "Kevin did not knowingly lie about the relationship between Individual #1 [Carter Page] and the other gov't agency [CIA]"
Seeks non-custodial sentence.
Full doc:https://t.co/Otgi8cWNrP pic.twitter.com/ERGugxVY5h
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) December 3, 2020
The post Durham Seeking Prison Time For Ex-FBI Lawyer Clinesmith, Who Doctored CIA Email On Carter Page appeared first on The Political Insider.
