NYT Names FBI “Resistance” Lawyer Under Criminal Investigation For Fabricating FISA Docs

The New York Times has revealed that the “low-level lawyer” under criminal investigation for allegedly doctoring materials used to obtain renewals of the Carter Page surveillance warrant is Kevin Clinesmith – who worked on both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the Russia probe, was part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, and interviewed Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos.

Clinesmith, a 37-year-old graduate of Georgetown Law, “took an email from an official at another federal agency that contained several factual assertions, then added material to the bottom that looked like another assertion from the email’s author, when it was instead his own understanding,” according to the report.

Mr. Clinesmith included this altered email in a package that he compiled for another F.B.I. official to read in preparation for signing an affidavit that would be submitted to the court attesting to the facts and analysis in the wiretap application.

The details of the email are apparently classified and may not be made public even when the report is unveiled. –New York Times

In other words, we won’t get to see whatever the FBI used to trick the FISA court into granting Page’s renewals.

Clinesmith, a former attorney with the FBI’s National Security and Cyber Law Branch while working under FBI’s top lawyer, James Baker, resigned two months ago after he was interviewed by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horrowitz’s office. Horrowitz in turn sent a criminal referral to US Attorney John Durham, who was tasked with investigating the Obama DOJ’s conduct surrounding the 2016 US election.

The referral appears to at least be part of the reason that Durham’s inquiry was elevated from an administrative review to a criminal investigation, according to the report. The findings are set to be revealed on December 9, when Horowitz will release his long-awaited report, which Trump’s allies believe will reveal an effort to undermine his 2016 campaign.

In addition to Clinesmith’s fabricated FISA evidence, the FBI used an unverified dossier from former British spy Christopher Steele, paid for in part by the Clinton campaign via law firm Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS, in their pursuit of Carter Page. The agency has claimed in court filings that the Steele Dossier was not used in warrant appplications, affidavits or courtroom evidene – but was used in “criminal proceedings.”

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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