On August 19, a former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to doctoring a document that was connected to the secret surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser during the Russian investigation.
Doctored documents
The ex-lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, is the first official to be charged in a special Justice Department review of the investigation of the Russian probe. The Russian probe was the connection between President Donald Trump and Russia during the presidential campaign in 2016.
Attorney General William Barr appointed U.S attorney in Connecticut, John Durham, to scrutinize the decisions made by officials during the Russian probe, as reported by USA Today.
Clinesmith admitted that he made a single false statement and that he doctored an email that the FBI relied on as it sought court approval to dig dirt on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page back in 2017.
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The sentencing guidelines call for up to six months in prison, but the punishment is solely up to U.S District Judge James Boasberg, who accepted the plea of the ex-lawyer.
The sentencing was originally scheduled for December 10, 2019. Before an internal disciplinary process was fully completed, Clinesmith resigned from the FBI, as reported by CBS News.
The case revealed broader problems with the FBI's surveillance applications on Page, an issue that has animated critics of the Russia investigation for so long.
The charging documents were filed on August 14, and it stated that Clinesmith altered an email that he received in June 2017 from another government agency to state that Page was not a source for that agency. He then proceeded to forward it to his colleague.
The document does not state which agency he forwarded the email to, but Page has publicly stated that he had worked as a source for the CIA.
The impact of Clinesmith's lie
The FBI mostly relied on the representation of Clinesmith in the email when it was given its fourth and final application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to investigate on Page on suspicions that he could be working for Russia, as reported by The Washington Post.
Any information about Page's connection with another government agency would have been important to disclose to the FISA court. It could have been helpful in explaining or reframing Page's interactions with Russians.
Clinesmith mostly answered basic questions from the judge with very brief responses. He went on to elaborate on the nature of his conduct in order to clarify it and to make clear that he believed the information that he had included in the email was accurate at the time that he made changes with the message.
Justin Shur, Clinesmith's attorney, said in a statement that Clinesmith regretted his actions and had not intended to mislead the court or his colleagues.
In December 2019, a Justice Department inspector general report found errors and omissions in the four applications that the FBI submitted to eavesdrop on Page.
The inspector said that officials failed to update the court after receiving new information that undercut the original premise that Page may have been an agent of a "foreign power."
On August 18, a Senate intelligence committee examined the connection between Trump aides and Russia, and they also identified flaws in the FBI's surveillance, including its reliance on research that was compiled by a former British spy who was funded by the Democrats.
Meanwhile, Page was never charged, and he has since denied any wrongdoing. As for Durham, it is still not clear what additional charges he may face.
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