News reports have downplayed the significance of former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith’s guilty plea, acknowledging he altered an official document in the government’s Trump-Russia collusion probe. There has been some coverage, mainly because it is so rare to see FBI agents charged with a felony and because it is the first tangible result of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s sprawling investigation of the investigators. But mainstream news outlets have minimized its importance. It’s only one count, they say, and it deals with a relatively minor crime by a mid-level figure.
That’s spin, and it’s wrong. This plea is like finding water seeping from the base of a dam. The problem is not one muddy puddle. The problem is that it foreshadows the dam’s failure, releasing a torrent. That’s what the Clinesmith plea portends.
What Did Clinesmith Admit?
Clinesmith acknowledges he altered an email from the CIA to the FBI, answering a question about Carter Page. Page is an American citizen and a Naval Academy graduate who spent considerable time in Russia. His time abroad raised a question for the FBI’s counter-intelligence division. Was Page a Russian agent? Or was he on our side, helping the U.S. gather intelligence about the Kremlin? The CIA would know.
The answer mattered because the FBI and Department of Justice were preparing warrants to spy on Page as a hostile foreign agent. The CIA gave them a clear answer in August 2016, before the first warrant was issued: Page was working for us. That answer was given to a still-unnamed FBI case agent, and we don’t know what he did with it. Did he show it to those preparing the warrant applications? Why else would he even ask the CIA for the information?
In 2017, after Clinesmith was tasked to the Mueller investigation, their team asked him to clarify Page’s relationship with U.S. intelligence. That’s when he took the CIA document and added a single word, “not.” The altered document said Carter Page was not a CIA asset. It was a deliberate lie.
Clinesmith is pleading guilty to inserting that word and changing the document. That’s a felony. What made his crime more significant is that the altered document was then presented to the secret court overseeing actions taken under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The special counsel included it in the fourth FISA application to spy on Page.
All four were chock-full of deception and dishonesty, but misrepresented to the court as “verified.” All of them said there “was probable cause that [Carter Page] was a knowing agent" of Russia. He wasn’t, and the applications’ authors had plenty of reasons to know it.
Why were they so determined to spy on a relatively minor figure like Carter Page? Because he was involved in Trump’s world and knew many others who were. James Comey’s FBI and Barack Obama’s White House wanted to know everything Trump was doing. Page was one window into that world. (Gen. Michael Flynn was an even better one, and we know he was exhaustively investigated.)
What really mattered was less the inclusion of Clinesmith’s false document than the omission of the CIA’s truthful one. The truth would have raised a bright red flag. The judges would likely ask, “If Page has worked closely with the CIA, how can you simply ignore that and say he is a Russian agent?” In other words, an accurate document might have killed the warrant renewal and called the previous three into question. The Mueller team wanted to avoid that, so they never let the FISA judges see the authentic document or know about it. Their omission was fateful and almost certainly criminal.
The Bullet Points That Leave a Bloody Trail
Clinesmith’s plea deal matters mostly because it sheds light on Durham’s broader investigation and the malfeasance he’s uncovering. To see that, let’s focus on the “bullet points,” which leave a bloody trail to larger crimes.
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Why is it encouraging... Durham should have been capable of uncovering this information and evidently did not want too... now that he has it where are the indictments?
That we matter. That this guy Sundance is building the case independently.
Ronald, I am surprised you don't know anything about procedural law when you seem to be so well versed in all kinds of legal issues. You cover constitutional law, public law, contract law, business law, etc. but not procedural law. Hmmm. I get it because it bores me to death, too, but unfortunately it is a very important part of the legal codex. (BTW Trump is a master of procedural law. We all can learn something from him.) In any case, you can't just create indictments on the basis of one man's testimony overnight. You have to substantiate any supporting evidence and you have to follow the proper procedural law requirements. All that takes time, especially if you want to move a tight case forward. So, I agree with Gregry and Jea. It is encouraging.
Procedural law is the body of law that deals with the technical aspects, such as duties and procedures for obtaining redress for a wrong. Procedural law is the rules of conducting a legal action. This is in contrast to “substantive law,” which refers to the actual laws by which a crime may be charged, or which govern how the facts of the case will be accepted and presented.
Quick comment...had a 500 pound freeway sign fall and crush the roof of my pickup, my head, and blew out my right eye. Never happened before.
Took 4 years to work through and settle the case. That is not nearly as complicated or embattled as going after the Mueller Deep Swamp and Hillbeast.
Sorry... NO SALE...
Hillary's crimes are so egregious and openly evident that she should be in prison now... yet, she has not been indicted. Comey's crimes lying on a warrant application and to Congress are open and shut cases... they don't take rocket scientist with law degrees to compute their culpability. I could continue to list a whole host of Crimes ... like Bidden's BRIBE using government funds of a foreign official in Ukraine or the violations of the Logan Act by former Secretary of State John Karry and his Iranian fiasco... he either told Iran to hold out for a better deal with the US or not... simple he either did or did not violate the law by interfering with Pres. Trump's foreign policy in Iran.
I am sick of lies and embellishments coming from both political parties... God has a special place for liars... may God's grace have mercy upon them.
Most Americans feel like you do, "I am sick of lies and embellishments coming from both political parties." That's why Trump won with a landslide in 2016 and why he will win with an even bigger landslide in 2020. Americans love that he is an outsider, refreshing, straight talking, and honest. And that is also why God is on Trump's side, and therefore on our side.
I'm glad you deleted this part from an earlier reply, "...any delays are more associated with corruption in the system that abuses court procedures to buy the guilty more time." This statement would not sound so good in reply to my praise of Trump's excellent and extensive use of legal procedures. He is indeed a master of it. It's amazing to see, really.
Look we will never see anyone with real power or position charged with jaywalking... not as long as the DOJ and FBI are running this supposed investigation... US Attorney Durham is part of the Deep State Cabal and so is AG Barr... take a long look at their resume, it's loaded with links to the powers running DC. The only thing the current investigations are doing is ID'ing and burying any evidence that would convict senior members of the DOJ and FBI. Taxpayers are funding the cleanup of the incriminating evidence... it will all disappear. Pres. Trump needs to take the investigation out of the DOJ and assign it to an independent task force and council formed from private sources (Outside the DC Power cabal) and provide them with all the necessary support to actually criminal indictments.
This entire investigation is rigged... It is LATE, very late in its coming ... and will drag on until the GOP and Democrat Party manage to remove Pres. Trump... from office. Then it will be buried and covered in concrete never to see the light of day or a courtroom. The Swamp and Deep State will never be held accountable as long as it is the Deep State and Swamp running the investigations. Wake up Mr. President BOTH parties were and are trying to remove you from office... using every means available including illegal means... You are a threat to both political parties and their plans for America's future.
Do you know if he sees your messages
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