The lawyer…

Kevin Clinesmith, former Assistant General Counsel in the National Security and Cyber Law Branch of the FBI's Office of General Counsel.

The crime…

On December 9, 2019, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz reported that an FBI lawyer falsified a critical piece of evidence used to obtain a FISA court warrant to spy on Trump campaign associate, Carter Page. Clinesmith was not singled out by name, only by title in the report.

The information contained in the email was allegedly part of the justification for turning a counterintelligence investigation into a more serious criminal investigation. And allowing John H. Durham, Special Attorney to the Attorney General, to widen his investigation into a criminal probe.

Tampering with an official document, an exculpatory e-mail from the CIA was materially altered to indicate that Page was an appropriate target for a criminal investigation based on his contacts with Russian individuals.

The Department of Justice 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 plea agreement and criminal information…

The August 14, 2020 plea offer signed by John H. Durham, Special Attorney to the Attorney General, and accepted by Clinesmith’s attorney states…

Your client agrees to plead guilty to a Criminal Information, a copy of which is attached, charging your client with False Statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3).

Your client understands that a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3) carries a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment; a fine of $250,000, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3571(b)(3); a term of supervised release of not more than three years, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3583(b)(2); and an obligation to pay any applicable interest or penalties on fines and restitution not timely made.

In addition, your client agrees to pay a special assessment of $100 per felony conviction to the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Your client also understands that, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3572 and § 5E1.2 of the United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual (2018) (hereinafter “Sentencing Guidelines,” “Guidelines,” or “U.S.S.G.”), the Court may also impose a fine that is sufficient to pay the federal government the costs of any imprisonment, term of supervised release, and period of probation.” <Source>

The criminal information…

On or about June 19, 2017, within the District of Columbia, the defendant, KEVIN CLINESMITH, did willfully and knowingly make and use a false writing and document , knowing the same to contain a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and entry in a matter before the jurisdiction of the executive branch and judicial branch of the Government of the United States. Specifically, on or about June 19, 2017, the defendant altered the OGA [Other Government Agency – aka the CIA] Liaison's June 15, 2017 email by adding that Individual # 1[Carter Page] was not a source” and then forwarded the email to the SSA [supervisory special agent] , when in truth , and in fact, and as the defendant well knew , the original June 15, 2017 email from the OGA Liaison did not contain the words “ not a source. <Source>

The outcome …

Handing down an inappropriately lenient sentence for a crime that facilitated fraud on the Court, destroyed Carter Page’s life, and cost the government multiple millions of dollars to pursue a false Democrat campaign dirty trick, District Court Judge James Boasberg sentenced former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith to 12 months probation and 400 hours community service.

Most egregious was Judge Boasberg’s comments …

The judge cited that the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s investigation failed to establish that political considerations played a role in Clinesmith's actions or numerous other errors and omissions that impacted filings with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

"I see no reason to disagree with that conclusion." 

“There was no real benefit to him from his actions and no real intent to harm.”

"My view of the evidence is that Mr. Clinesmith likely believed that what he said about Mr. Page was true. By altering the email, he was saving himself some work and taking an inappropriate shortcut."

“[He] lost his job, and his government service is what has given his life much of its meaning,  He was also earning $150,000 a year and who knows where the earnings go now. He may be disbarred or suspended from the practice of law, you may never be able to work in the national security field again. These are substantial penalties. What is more, he went from being an obscure career government lawyer to standing in the eye of a media hurricane. He has been threatened, vilified and abused on a nationwide scale.”

“Anybody who has watched what Mr. Clinesmith has suffered is not someone who will readily act in that fashion. Weighing all of these factors together — both in terms of the damages he caused and what he has suffered and the positives in his own life — I believe a probationary sentence is appropriate here and will therefore impose it.”

What makes this sentence troubling is that the DOJ and FBI knowingly perpetrated fraud on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by deliberately omitting exculpatory evidence used for a FISA warrant, knowingly submitted false statements, and lied to the FISA Court.

Not only did the Court fail to hold evidentiary hearings and hold individuals accountable for the discovered fraud to redeem faith in the Court’s future actions – but Judge James Boasberg is now the Presiding Chief Judge of the Court and responsible for the Court’s reputation.

The impact on an individual American citizen…

Faith in the government’s mandate to protect an individual’s rights in one-sided secret court proceedings is now shattered. The trust enjoyed by the Court itself has been significantly damaged.

The impact on the American taxpayer…

A Democrat dirty trick has cost taxpayers multiple millions of dollars and a great loss of time.

The impact on the American people…

A Presidency was severely impacted, and Congress was diverted from serious threats from other nations, compromised individuals, and those who benefited from what is clearly a campaign dirty trick involving the Obama Administration, the Clinton Campaign, and the Democrat National Committee.

Most importantly, the Clinesmith crime's impact is to erode further the people’s loss of trust in our premier intelligence and law enforcement institutions and the government in general.