The former FBI lawyer who lied in order to justify serveiling Carter Page is now pleading for the judge not to send him to prison:
NY POST – Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith’s legal team is pleading with a judge not to send him to prison for lying to secure surveillance orders against President Trump’s 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page.
Clinesmith agreed in August to plead guilty to making false statements when he doctored an email submitted as evidence to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The discovery was made by US Attorney for Connecticut John Durham’s team reviewing the FBI’s Russia investigation. Durham will serve as a special counsel continuing his work under President-elect Joe Biden.
The disgraced attorney faces up to five years in prison, though sentencing guidelines reportedly call for a maximum of six months behind bars.
Clinesmith’s legal team argued in court papers that he “cut a corner” because he was overworked and “exhausted,” Politico reports.
“In short, when Kevin altered the email in June 2017, he was spread thin and exhausted at work and in his personal life,” his legal team said in a filing.
US District Judge James Boasberg is expected to hand down Clinesmith’s sentence on Thursday.
Boasberg also serves as a judge on the surveillance court, which is comprised of federal judges who hear cases dealing with efforts to spy on suspected terrorists and spies.
Federal prosecutors are seeking at least three months in prison.
“It is plausible that his strong political views and/or personal dislike of the current President made him more willing to engage in the fraudulent and unethical conduct to which he has pled guilty,” prosecutors said in a filing.
“While it is impossible to know with certainty how those views may have affected his offense conduct, the defendant plainly has shown that he did not discharge his important responsibilities at the FBI with the professionalism, integrity, and objectivity required of such a sensitive job position.”
Although his wife is pregnant, prosecutors said “defendant’s family circumstances are not so unusual as to warrant special consideration.”
I’m sorry but they need to throw the book at Clinesmith. We’re not talking small-ball stuff here, we’re talking about a trusted FBI lawyer lying to convince a FISA court to surveil an American citizen, all because he and his colleagues hated President Trump.
And all of this talk about him having a hard week is just not believable. You don’t lie just because you’re exhausted from having a hard week, especially to a freaking FISA court.
If the judge ends up being lenient and Clinesmith skirts jail-time, it will be a huge disgrace. In my opinion Clinesmith should serve at least a year, if not two for what he’s done. Anything less won’t be acceptable.