Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty in deal over Russia probe
Kevin Clinesmith will admit he altered the meaning of an email
WASHINGTON — A former FBI attorney plans on pleading guilty to making a false statement in the first legal salvo fired by a federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the U.S. probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
The felony charge, filed Friday in Washington’s federal court, is part of a plea deal between the prosecutor, John Durham, and Kevin Clinesmith, 38, an attorney who used to work in the FBI’s office of general counsel.
Under the deal, Clinesmith will admit that he altered the meaning of an email that agents relied upon in seeking to renew court-approved surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser who was suspected of being a Russian agent. Page was never charged with any crime.
“Kevin deeply regrets having altered the email,” Clinesmith’s lawyer, Justin Shur, said in a statement. “It was never his intent to mislead the court or his colleagues as he believed the information he relayed was accurate. But Kevin understands what he did was wrong and accepts responsibility.”
Clinesmith’s misconduct was disclosed in a report released in December by the Justice Department’s inspector general that sharply criticized how the FBI handled its secret surveillance of Page in 2016 and 2017. Even so, the felony charge is certain to be championed by President Donald Trump and his political allies as they seek to call attention to the conduct of federal law enforcement and intelligence officials who investigated possible collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow. how the FBI and intelligence agencies investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign and Moscow’s potential collusion with the Trump campaign.
The attorney general ordered the Durham investigation shortly after releasing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report in April 2019 that found Trump’s aides welcomed Russian offers of help during the race, but failed to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy involving Moscow and Trump’s campaign and associates.
Barr has been a sharp critic of the Mueller investigation and earlier FBI probe into Russia’s interference, calling it “abhorrent” and a “grave injustice.” In a news conference unveiling the Mueller report, Barr defended Trump from accusations of obstruction of justice by saying the president was entitled to feel frustrated and angry by the probe.
Trump has cheered on Barr’s efforts to unravel the Russia investigation, and the president told Fox Business on Thursday that he wouldn’t be satisfied if only “lower guys” were charged.