Former FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith To Plead Guilty

In Former FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith To Plead Guilty I discuss how former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is going to plead guilty due to the John Durham probe uncovering him doctoring emails. #kevinclinesmith #johndurham
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Originally Uploaded Aug 14, 2020

In October 24, 2019, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that Durham's inquiry had been elevated to a criminal investigation, raising concerns of politicization of the Justice Department to pursue political enemies of the President.[72][106] The Times reported on November 22 that the Justice Department inspector general had made a criminal referral to Durham regarding Kevin Clinesmith, a low-level FBI attorney who had altered an email during the process of acquiring a wiretap warrant renewal on Carter Page, and that referral appeared to be at least part of the reason Durham's investigation was elevated to criminal status.[103] On August 14, 2020, Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a felony violation of altering an email used to maintain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. He changed an email to omit the fact that Carter Page had a prior operational relationship with the CIA from 2008 to 2013.[107][108]

The day Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz, a 2012 Obama appointee, released his report on the 2016 FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which found the investigation was properly predicated and debunked a number of conspiracy theories regarding its origins, Durham issued a statement saying, "we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened."[109][110] Many observers inside and outside the Justice Department, including the inspector general, expressed surprise that Durham would issue such a statement, as federal investigators typically do not publicly comment on their ongoing investigations.[111] Barr also released a statement challenging the findings of the report.[112] Horowitz later testified to the Senate that prior to release of the report he had asked Durham for any information he had that might change the report's findings, but "none of the discussions changed our findings."[113] The Washington Post reported that Durham could not provide evidence of any setup by American intelligence.[114]

The New York Times reported in December 2019 that Durham was examining the role of former CIA director John Brennan in assessing Russian interference in 2016, requesting emails, call logs and other documents. Brennan had been a vocal critic of Trump and a target of the president's accusations of improper activities toward him. The Times reported Durham was specifically examining Brennan's views of the Steele dossier and what he said about it to the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Brennan and former director of national intelligence James Clapper had testified to Congress that the CIA and other intelligence agencies did not rely on the dossier in preparing the January 2017 intelligence community assessment of Russian interference, and allies of Brennan said he disagreed with the FBI view that the dossier should be given significant weight, as the CIA characterized it as "internet rumor."[115]

In February 2020, The Washington Post reported that Trump was pressing the Justice Department for Durham to finish his investigation, so that Trump could use information gathered from it in his reelection campaign.[116]