A former FBI lawyer accused of altering an email used to justify surveillance on a 2016 Trump campaign official will make his first court appearance later this week, The Washington Times reported citing a court order issued Monday.
Kevin Clinesmith is the first person charged in U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into officials involved in the counterintelligence probe "Crossfire Hurricane" of the Trump campaign which later became special counsel Robert Muller's inquiry into a supposed conspiracy with Russian officials. He is expected to plead guilty to one count of falsifying documents.
He is to appear via telephone or video conference before U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, the Times reported. Boasberg, appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, is the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, which Clinesmith's altered document was used before to obtain a warrant to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Clinesmith is accused of altering a document that told the FISA court Page "was not" an asset of the CIA, when he was, in fact, known to be acting as a CIA informant. If Page was not a source of the CIA, then his numerous contacts with Russian officials would appear to be suspicious and therefore justify the warrant.
The surveillance led to further spying on the Trump campaign.
The plea has been touted as some as an indication Clinesmith will or already has implicated other officials in the Crossfire Hurricane/Mueller probe.
President Donald Trump, Republicans and others such as George Washington Law professor Jonathan Turley have accused officials from the FBI, Department of Justice, and elsewhere of a politically motivated investigation intended to derail and undermine Trump's election and presidency.
Clinesmith was later shown to have texted anti-Trump messages including "Viva la Resistance."
One of the leaders of Mueller's investigation, Obama-era Justice Department official Andrew Weissman, has decried the charges against Clinesmith.