ExFBI attorney to plead guilty in Russia review
WASHINGTON — A former FBI lawyer intends to plead guilty after he was charged with falsifying a document as part of a deal with prosecutors conducting their own criminal inquiry of the Russia investigation, according to his attorney and court documents made public Friday.
The lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, 38, who was assigned to the Russia investigation, plans to admit that he altered an email from the CIA that investigators relied on to seek renewed court permission in 2017 for a secret wiretap on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who had at times provided information to the spy agency. Clinesmith’s lawyer said he made a mistake while trying to clarify facts for a colleague.
Clinesmith had written texts expressing opposition to President Trump, who touted the plea agreement as evidence that the Russia investigation was illegitimate and politically motivated. Trump has long been blunt about seeing the continuing investigation by the prosecutor examining the earlier inquiry, John Durham, as political payback whose fruits he would like to see revealed in the weeks before the election.
Attorney General William Barr has portrayed Durham’s work as rectifying what he sees as injustices by officials who sought in 2016 to understand links between the Trump campaign and Russia’s covert operation to interfere in the election.
Prosecutors did not reveal any evidence in charging documents that show Clinesmith’s actions were part of any broader conspiracy to undermine Trump. And the Justice Department’s independent inspector general, Michael Horowitz, has found that law enforcement officials had sufficient reason to open the Russia investigation, known inside the FBI as Crossfire Hurricane, and found no evidence that they acted with political bias.
The sprawling Russia investigation that was eventually run by a special counsel, Robert Mueller, uncovered the Kremlin’s complex operation to subvert the election.
As part of their efforts to dissuade prosecutors from charging Clinesmith, his lawyers argued that his motives were benign, and other evidence indicated that he had not tried to hide the CIA email from his colleagues.
“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 was expected to be charged in federal court in Washington with a single felony count of making a false statement. He did not respond to an email seeking comment. A spokesman for Durham declined to comment.