Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI attorney who has admitted to changing a colleague’s email related to the agency’s surveillance of a Trump campaign aide, is asking a federal judge for leniency.
"Kevin Clinesmith made a grievous mistake. By altering a colleague's email, he cut a corner in a job that required far better of him. He failed to live up to the FBI's and his own high standards of conduct," his attorneys wrote in a 48-page sentencing memorandum that was filed on Thursday, according to USA Today.
Clinesmith, who spent four years at the FBI, pleaded guilty to altering an email concerning a wiretap on Carter Page, who was an aide to the 2016 Trump campaign and was suspected of having contact with Russian intelligence officers, according to the email that Clinesmith altered.
The original email, which was from the CIA, showed that the agency told investigators that Page had been an “operational contact” for the CIA from 2008 to 2013, and had given them information on contacts he’d had with members of Russian intelligence. Clinesmith altered this email to say that Page was “not a source” for the agency. Another FBI agent then used the altered email to argue for continued surveillance on Page.
"When Kevin informed the agent (and others) that (Page) was not a source, he genuinely believed he was conveying accurate information," Clinesmith’s attorneys said in their Thursday filing, adding that his professional career is “in shambles,” because of the incident.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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