Durham Seeks Jail Time For Ex-FBI Lawyer Who Altered CIA Email About Carter Page

U. S. Attorney John Durham is seeking a prison sentence of up to six months for Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email from the CIA regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page’s past relationship with the spy agency.

Durham asked a federal judge in a court filing on Thursday to sentence Clinesmith to a jail term “between the middle and upper end” of what federal sentencing guidelines recommend for the crime of making false statements in writing.

Clinesmith pleaded guilty to the charge on Aug. 19. He admitted to adding the phrase “not a ‘source'” to a June 2017 email from a CIA employee who had provided information about Page’s relationship with the agency.

Page served as an “operational contact” for the CIA from 2008 to 2013.

Clinesmith, who worked in the FBI’s National Cyber Law Branch, assisted the bureau’s Crossfire Hurricane team in its investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to the Russian government. As part of his legal work, Clinesmith contacted the CIA regarding Page’s association with the spy agency.

Clinesmith, who also worked on the special counsel’s team, forwarded his altered email to an FBI analyst who was putting together an application to renew a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against Page.

Clinesmith’s email edit was discovered by the Justice Department office of the inspector general, which investigated the FBI’s FISA warrants against Page, as well as the validity of the Crossfire Hurricane probe.

A report from the IG said that the FBI made 17 “significant” errors and omissions in FISA warrants against Page.

The IG report said that the CIA had initially told the Crossfire Hurricane team in August 2016 about Page’s work as an “operational contact.... (Read more)

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