By Robert Willmann
The pretense and bogus public face that an even-handed application of law exists in the federal legal system showed itself again today as former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith received 12 months probation and a $100 special assessment after pleading guilty to making a false statement during the process for the third renewal of a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, PhD. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the most intrusive surveillance of a person and his or her communications, and can also include physical searches and the production of business records and other tangible things. Clinesmith pleaded guilty on 19 August 2020, and court records and a transcript of the plea hearing were made available here on SST [1].
This is the only criminal case filed so far by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was directed by Attorney General William Barr on 18 May 2019 to conduct a preliminary review, which turned into a criminal investigation, about matters related to the 2016 presidential campaign and governmental conduct. Part of what Durham is to look into is the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, which was officially opened in 2016 and which allegedly was about the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Clinesmith's criminal conduct happened as part of that FBI activity. Barr made Durham a "special counsel" under Justice Department procedures on 1 December 2020 that would give Durham some degree of independence as the Biden administration moved in.
The written order of conviction and sentencing is not yet in the court clerk's file, with the only notation being on the clerk's docket sheet about the sentencing on 29 January 2021. One other bit of activity occurred in the case, when Carter Page filed a request under the Crime Victims' Rights Act to be acknowledged as a crime victim under that law, since he was subject to surveillance based on unlawful applications for orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [2]. He also filed a supplement to that request saying that with the current posture of the case, it would not be workable to establish a dollar amount of restitution he should receive [3]. He was the target of four consecutive surveillance warrants, an original one which was then renewed three times. Each one was for 90 days, which means the surveillance of him went on for an entire year.
Carter Page was allowed 10 minutes to speak at Clinesmith's sentencing hearing, but the Judge presiding in the case, James Boasberg, declined to decide if Page qualified as a victim under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, and ruled that he was not entitled to any restitution [4].
In 2019, some wealthy parents were charged with crimes in federal court for making illegal payments and arrangements to colleges and universities so that their not-so-meritorious children could attend schools they would not otherwise be eligible to attend. Some were sentenced to prison for short terms, from several days to six months. Some are awaiting trial [5].
John Durham's prosecutors asked that Clinesmith be sent to prison for around three to six months. But Judge Boasberg, sitting in his regular federal district court in Washington DC, gave Clinesmith probation. Boasberg has been on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court since May 2014, and after Judge Rosemary Collyer left the FISC as its presiding judge in January 2020, he was appointed to that position. The FISC is not even a real court. The 11 judges are regular federal judges and they meet to decide whether to grant the government's applications for surveillance, in addition to their regular work in a federal court [6]. Boasberg as presiding judge of the FISC has not initiated one hearing about the misconduct and fraud on the FISA court by the FBI and others regarding the investigations of the Trump presidential campaign and after his election in 2016, or about any other matter.
I will again slightly modify the immortal words of comedian George Carlin: "It's a small club, and you're not in it".
[2] Title 18, U.S. Code, section 3771. Crime victims' rights.
Title 18, U.S. Code, section 3663. Order of restitution.
[3] https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/clinesmith_carterpage_motion_crime_victim_rights.pdf
[4] https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/clinesmith_court_order_on_carterpage_crime_victim_rights.pdf
[5] https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/college-admissions-scandal-fallout.html
[6] https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/about-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now’s the time for your tears
Posted by: Barbara Ann | 29 January 2021 at 09:37 PM
Do we dare dream Clinesmith got off lightly because he became a material witness against the rest of the crooks? Or am I still living off Durham-Barr fumes.
His punishment should be at least as long as he destroyed Carter Page's life, career and reputation. He was not stressed from overwork: his comments proved he loved every minute being part of this illegal anti-Trump deep state cabal.
Fire him and strip him of his pension would be another good place to start; and to send a message. If you choose civil service, you are required to be civil and of service to the public; not your own partisan agenda.
Posted by: Deap | 29 January 2021 at 11:34 PM
If you want to screw someone over, like Clinesmith screwed over Carter Page, go work on Wall Street and take your chances running with the wolves. But don't intentionally screw people over, on the taxpayer's dime.
Posted by: Deap | 29 January 2021 at 11:38 PM
As I believe General Flynn said "its a justus system not justice".
Posted by: JohninMK | 30 January 2021 at 07:03 AM
They are all corrupt and the Republic we were raised to live in no longer exists. On another note Nancy Pelosi, usings Alinsky's law, says her political opponents in the House are issuing threats of violence:
https://apnews.com/article/pelosi-congress-threats-e58280d2ca125f45f280cbd514078543
I'm sure we won't have to wait long to see what Bernie Bro James Hodgkinson's imitators in action - against the same political party of course. Thanks for bringing us together Speaker Pelosi, and President Biden.
Posted by: Fred | 30 January 2021 at 09:00 AM
Barr and Dunham did exactly what they were told.
Run out the clock and tie up lose ends.
Charged a nobody and slapped him on the wrist.
No attempt to even hide the corruption any longer.
DC scum are wise to build the blue zone in the capital.
They will soon be as welcome as the vermin hiding in Iraq green zone.
Posted by: sbin | 30 January 2021 at 01:41 PM
This was to be expected. Remember all this took place under the Trump administration. No Swamp was drained during his term. The buck stops at his desk.
Posted by: blue peacock | 30 January 2021 at 07:44 PM
Blue Peacock is right.
While Trump did save us from 4 years of the Clinton crime family and did implement several needed and positive policies, his lack of any management skills and shallow megalomania never came close to even taming the swamp much less draining it.
He is all bark, no bite.
Posted by: TV | 31 January 2021 at 01:06 PM
Per Fox News, we have the following remarks from Judge Boasberg:
------------
"[Clinesmith] lost his job, and his government service is what has given his life much of its meaning,"
Boasberg said Friday.
"He was also earning $150,000 a year and who knows where the earnings go now.
He may [!!!!] be disbarred or suspended from the practice of law, you may never be able to work in the national security field again.
These are substantial penalties."
Boasberg added:
"What is more, he went from being an obscure career government lawyer to standing in the eye of a media hurricane.
He has been threatened, vilified and abused on a nationwide scale."
-----------
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-lawyer-kevin-clinesmith-sentenced-john-durham-probe
Anybody notice a difference in the way Judge Boasberg handled the sentencing of Clinesmith
and the way Judge Sullivan handled the sentencing of General Flynn?
Posted by: Keith Harbaugh | 31 January 2021 at 06:43 PM
Not concerning Clinesmith, but discussing legal matters that might interest Mr. Willmann, and readers of this column:
[John Paul] Mac Isaac has filed a lawsuit against Twitter for defaming him:
"John Paul Mac Isaac’s lawsuit alleges Twitter defamed him by labeling him a hacker
in an attempt to justify its censorship of The New York Post’s bombshell story exposing the younger Biden selling access to his father."
By Margot Cleveland
https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/30/hunter-biden-laptop-lawsuit-gives-twitter-unpleasant-legal-choices/
I am cross-posting this comment to both Larry Johnson and Robert Willmann's posts as it would seem of interest to each of them, and their readers.
Also of interest may be this other Margot Cleveland column:
https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/25/parler-lost-its-first-legal-battle-heres-why-it-will-probably-lose-the-next/
"Governing legal precedent makes it unlikely anyone seeking to challenge a deplatforming decision will ever succeed in court."
Posted by: Keith Harbaugh | 02 February 2021 at 10:49 AM
Boasberg missed the entire point when comparing "punishment" Clinesmith was already facing - Clinesmith clearly and intentionally committed a crime, knowing full well he was choosing everyone of those consequences.
He chose to be a sworn member of the bar, by his own voluntary choice. He knew what his duties and obligations were as a member of the court., which he alone chose to violate.
Was he surprised as a sworn judicial officer that the law applied to him? It was an intended consequence to lose this job and his license to practice law; loss of both was not punishment. It was his voluntary choice. He hated Trump enough to not care about these highly predictable consequences.
Carter Page suffered far more egregiously, and was always innocent. Judge Boasberg is a total partisan jerk and should be impeached yesterday.
Meanwhile on another note, feds finally forced by courts to make Seth Rich files public. Will they, or have they been tampered with already?
Posted by: Deap | 02 February 2021 at 12:39 PM