Name: Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to falsifying Russia probe doc
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Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to falsifying Russia probe doc

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An ex-FBI lawyer will plead guilty to doctoring an email that led his agency to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser, officials said Friday — which the president claimed is clear proof he has been “spied on.”Kevin Clinesmith will cop to lying, which helped lead to a renewed wiretap of Carter Page, his lawyer confirmed — in what will be the first guilty plea produced by of the Russia investigation.“The fact is, they spied on my campaign, and ,” Trump said Friday after news of Clinesmith’s plea broke.“What happened should never happen. It’s a terrible thing.”Trump reelection campaign officials added in a statement that the “abuses of power” displayed in the Russia probe “represent the greatest political crime in American history.”Durham has been investigating the Russia probe, which examined alleged collusion between the Russians and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, since May 2019, when he was appointed by US Attorney General William Barr.Clinesmith — whom Trump called a “corrupt FBI attorney” — figured into Durham’s inquiry over a June 15, 2017, email.The email involved the wiretapping of Page — an energy executive who previously passed information to the CIA about his contacts in Russia — amid the Russia investigation.The Russia probe had started under the Obama administration in 2016 and was taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller in 2017.Page had first been approved in 2016 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a wiretap because investigators suspected Russian spies might try to target him. The order was renewed several times.Then, during yet another application to renew the wiretap, Clinesmith’s supervisor asked him if the Trump adviser had ever been a source for the CIA, which could explain some of the seemingly damning things he might have said on the phone tapes.Clinesmith, 38, sent his supervisor an email from the CIA that said Page was “not a ‘source,’” according to court papers — when the original missive had said he was.“Kevin deeply regrets having altered the email,” Clinesmith’s lawyer, Justin Shur, said in a statement Friday.“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 is set to plead guilty to one felony count of making a false statement in federal court in Washington, DC.Page was never charged with a crime.Clinesmith’s guilty plea was on Thursday night in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.”“There are two different things going on,” Barr said. “I said the American people need to know what actually happened, we need to get the story of what happened in 2016 and ’17. … That will be done.“The second aspect of this is, if people crossed the line, if people involved in that activity violated criminal law, they will be charged,” he said.Clinesmith was eventually removed from the Russia probe after Mueller discovered he’d shared anti-Trump sentiments.In text messages, Clinesmith slammed Trump and his supporters, writing to another FBI official, “I honestly feel like there is going to be a lot more gun issues, too, the crazies won finally. This is the Tea Party on steroids. And the GOP is going to be lost.”He also texted, “Viva le resistance.”Mueller’s final report did not find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.His report added that it could not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice by allegedly trying to thwart the investigation.With Post wires

An ex-FBI lawyer will plead guilty to doctoring an email that led his agency to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser, officials said Friday — which the president claimed is clear proof he has been “spied on.”Kevin Clinesmith will cop to lying, which helped lead to a renewed wiretap of Carter Page, his lawyer confirmed — in what will be the first guilty plea produced by of the Russia investigation.“The fact is, they spied on my campaign, and ,” Trump said Friday after news of Clinesmith’s plea broke.“What happened should never happen. It’s a terrible thing.”Trump reelection campaign...

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Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to falsifying Russia probe doc

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