Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty Wednesday to falsifying an email used to support the surveillance of President Donald Trump’s former campaign aide Carter Page.
The case against Clinesmith is the first to be brought by federal prosecutor John Durham, appointed last year by Attorney General William Barr to review the origins of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Clinesmith, who worked at the FBI for four years, is accused of altering an email in 2017 that investigators relied on to justify an application to wiretap Page, according to court records. The altered email indicated that Page was “not a source” for the Central Intelligence Agency. The original email from the CIA indicated otherwise.
During a brief court appearance via telephone Wednesday, Clinesmith admitted that he altered the email but said he believed at the time that the information he added was accurate.
Clinesmith, who provided legal advice to investigators working on the Russia investigation, told an FBI agent in an instant message that Page was “never a source” for the government, according to court records. The CIA had earlier told investigators in a memo that Page was an “operational contact” for the agency from 2008 to 2013 and provided information about his contacts with Russian intelligence officers.
Last year, a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general revealed several errors and misstatements in surveillance applications on Page. The inspector general’s office, which revealed in its report that Clinesmith doctored the email, referred the matter to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.
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In an interview with the inspector general’s office, Clinesmith said the CIA employee who wrote the original email told him on the phone that Page was not a source for the agency. The employee said she didn’t recall any phone conversations with Clinesmith, according to the report.
Clinesmith’s lawyers said last week that their client “deeply regrets” his actions and that he never intended to mislead investigators or the court that approved the surveillance applications.
Trump and his Republican allies in Congress seized on the inspector general’s findings to cast the Russia investigation as an attempt by President Barack Obama’s administration to undermine Trump. The inspector general’s investigation found that the FBI was justified in launching the probe.
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Trump and Republicans urged Barr to publish the findings of Durham’s review before the 2020 election. Barr, who has been critical of the Russia investigation, told Fox News last week that there would be “significant developments” before November.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee that’s also been investigating the Russia probe, heralded Clinesmith’s guilty plea. “It is imperative we restore trust to a broken system and the only way that is possible is for people to be held accountable for their actions,” Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement.
Clinesmith will be sentenced Dec. 10. Prosecutors didn’t ask for him to be held in jail while he waits to be sentenced.