XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.elections   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   Convicted FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith — whom Judge James Boasberg gave a   
   slap on the wrist for his crimes years before becoming a public foe of   
   President Donald Trump’s deportation policies — was more deeply involved   
   in the deeply flawed Crossfire Hurricane investigation than previously   
   known.   
      
   Clinesmith, who worked on both the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email   
   investigation and on the Trump-Russia collusion inquiry, pleaded guilty to   
   falsifying a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew FISA authority   
   to wiretap Carter Page, who was an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign.   
      
   Newly-declassified details about Clinesmith’s involvement include a wide   
   swath of information about his role in the case. He was a key go-to for   
   former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok   
   throughout the debunked collusion saga and a main driver in obtaining a   
   FISA warrant against Page based on the infamous Steele dossier.   
      
   Clinesmith also granted his seal of approval on a document describing the   
   FBI’s pretextual briefing of then-candidate Trump, was deeply involved in   
   the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, played a role in going   
   after former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and more. He also   
   helped the FBI push its  “Cross Wind” investigation, which Just the News   
   can confirm related to the targeting of security expert Walid Phares,   
   which resulted in no accusations of wrongdoing and no charges.   
      
   Knee-deep in the mud   
   Clinesmith confessed in August 2020 that he had manipulated a CIA email in   
   2017 to state that Carter Page was “not a source” for the CIA when that   
   agency had actually told the bureau on multiple occasions that Page was in   
   fact an “operational contact” for the CIA.   
      
   Boasberg, the federal judge who is blocking Trump’s efforts to deport   
   Venezuelan gang members, also played a key and controversial role in the   
   aftermath of the Trump-Russia collusion saga as the leader of the Foreign   
   Intelligence Surveillance Court. The judge, nominated to the U.S. District   
   Court for the District of Columbia by then-President Barack Obama in 2011,   
   is currently engaged in an all-out legal battle with the Trump Justice   
   Department.   
      
   But in his role as the head of the FISA Court he made a number of divisive   
   decisions, including a slap on the wrist for a member of the FBI’s   
   Crossfire Hurricane team, the appointment of officials who had defended   
   the FBI’s actions during the Russiagate saga, the renewal of the FBI’s   
   FISA powers, and more.   
      
   Boasberg defends Clinesmith   
   Boasberg ruled this week that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump   
   administration officials in criminal contempt after they violated his   
   orders by continuing deportation flights. But his ruling follows the   
   Supreme Court holding that Boasberg's court was in an improper venue for   
   the case altogether.   
      
   Boasberg, in his role as a federal judge, denied the Justice Department’s   
   efforts to seek up to six months behind bars for Clinesmith, who pleaded   
   guilty in Special Counsel John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation —   
   instead giving Clinesmith a year of probation, 400 hours of community   
   service, and no fine.   
      
   Durham argued that Clinesmith’s “deceptive conduct” related to the FISA   
   application fabrication “was antithetical to the duty of candor and eroded   
   the FISA’s confidence in the accuracy of all previous FISA applications   
   worked on by the defendant,” and said his deception “fueled public   
   distrust of the FBI and of the entire FISA program itself.”   
      
   But Boasberg seemed to defend Clinesmith’s deceptive FISA-related actions   
   during his January 2021 sentencing.   
      
   "Mr. Clinesmith likely believed that what he said was true," Boasberg   
   wrote, adding, "I do not believe he was attempting to achieve an end he   
   knew was wrong." The judge claimed that "it is not clear to me that the   
   fourth FISA warrant would not have been signed but for this error. … Even   
   if Mr. Clinesmith had been accurate about Mr. Page’s relationship with the   
   other government agency, the warrant may well have been signed and the   
   surveillance authorized."   
      
   Durham had argued that Clinesmith's deception "fueled public distrust of   
   the FBI and of the entire FISA program itself.” Anthony Scarpelli, then a   
   top prosecutor on Durham’s team, also argued that “the defendant’s   
   criminal conduct tarnished the integrity of the FISA program” and that   
   “the resulting harm is immeasurable.”   
      
   Clinesmith told the court that “I am deeply remorseful for any effect my   
   actions may have had” on the FISA process even as he claimed that “I never   
   intended to mislead my colleagues about the status of Dr. Page.”   
      
   But Boasberg lamented that Clinesmith had been “abused” and “vilified” on   
   a “national scale” when the judge handed down his sentence, though he did   
   acknowledge that the FISA court’s reputation “has suffered” from the ex-   
   FBI attorney’s actions.   
      
   DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz in 2019 found huge flaws with the   
   FBI’s Russia collusion investigation, finding at least 17 “significant   
   errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against former Trump   
   campaign associate Carter Page. He also criticized the “central and   
   essential” role of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s debunked dossier in   
   the FBI’s politicized FISA surveillance. Clinesmith reportedly circulated   
   the dossier to other law enforcement staff.   
      
   FBI notes of a January 2017 interview with Steele source Igor Danchenko   
   showed he told the bureau he “did not know the origins” of some of   
   Steele's claims and “did not recall” other dossier information. Danchenko   
   also noted much of what he gave to Steele was “word of mouth and hearsay,”   
   some of which stemmed from a “conversation that [he] had with friends over   
   beers,” and the most salacious allegations may have been made in “jest.”   
      
   The special counsel assessed that “the FBI ignored the fact that at no   
   time before, during, or after Crossfire Hurricane were investigators able   
   to corroborate a single substantive allegation in the Steele dossier   
   reporting.”   
      
   The new revelations about Clinesmith come partly through further   
   declassified text messages sent by Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and others   
   involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.   
      
   Boasberg did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News sent   
   to his office. Clinesmith did not respond to a request for comment from   
   Just the News which was sent to the lawyer who defended him in the Durham   
   case.   
      
   Collaboration on the Carter Page FISA   
   The newly-declassified FBI records show that Clinesmith messaged Lisa Page   
   that “we have the final draft of the DRAGON FISA” on Oct. 11, 2016 — using   
      
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