Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to falsifying a document used to obtain a FISA warrant on former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page.
Clinesmith will be charged in Washington, D.C., on Friday with one felony count of making a false statement, and will plead guilty in a plea deal with prosecutors conducting a criminal probe of the Russia investigation, the New York Times reported.
The probe is being led by prosecutor John Durham, who was appointed to the task by Attorney General William Barr. Barr hinted at a development in the Durham probe in comments to Fox News on Thursday night.
“It's not an earth-shattering development, but it is an indication that things are moving along at the proper pace, as dictated by the facts in this investigation,” Barr said.
Clinesmith is set to admit that he altered an email from the CIA in order to renew the FISA warrant against Page in 2017. A report by the Justice Department inspector general found numerous inaccuracies in the FBI’s applications to surveil Page.
Page was monitored as part of the FBI’s investigation into alleged collaboration between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives. The FBI agents who opened the investigation, including Joe Pientka, gave Trump his first intelligence briefing as presumptive Republican nominee. A memo with a summary of the briefing was approved by former agent Peter Strzok as well as Clinesmith.
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