WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer plans to plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
The case against Kevin Clinesmith is likely to be cheered by President Donald Trump and his supporters who've alleged wrongdoing in the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia.
A watchdog report accused Clinesmith of altering an email to say former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was not a source for another government agency.
“The fact is they spied on my campaign and they got caught,” Trump said at the White House on Friday.
But the five-page charging document is limited in scope and does not allege criminal wrongdoing by anyone other than Clinesmith, nor does it offer evidence to support Trump’s assertions that the Russia probe was tainted by widespread political bias in the FBI.
It does make clear that the FBI relied on Clinesmith’s own misrepresentations as it sought to renew its surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Page has said he was. Clinesmith's lawyer told The Associated Press on Friday his client “deeply regrets" altering the email.
