The sentencing hearing contains a passionate speech by Page, in which the energy industry analyst complained that his life was turned upside down by the media firestorm that followed the revelation that he was investigating a FBI focal point for possible Russian influence on Trump campaign.
Clinesmith pleaded guilty last August to a charge of false statement in a plea deal with John Durham. The then prosecutor general, William Barr, tapped in 2019 to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Barr formally appointed Durham as a special adviser last fall in an apparent attempt to hamper a new government’s attempt to halt Durham’s investigation.
Prosecutors argued that Clinesmith’s misconduct was so serious that he deserved between three and six months in prison. Clinesmith’s lawyers have asked that he be spared jail time. The maximum sentence on the charge of false testimony is five years in prison, although judges have usually sentenced according to federal guidelines that required Clinesmith to serve between zero and six months in prison.
Clinesmith became a poster child for Republicans who criticized the Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigation and the FBI investigation that preceded it. Many Mueller critics – including Trump – have indeed suggested that Clinesmith was just the first of many government officials likely to be charged with crimes related to initiating or conducting the investigation.
Trump called Clinesmith “a corrupt FBI attorney” at a news conference last year and predicted more prosecutions.
“So this is just the beginning, I would think, because what happened should never happen again,” Trump said.
Texts and other messages Clinesmith sent in 2016 contributed to the suspicion that his actions were part of a deliberate attempt to smear Page and target the Trump campaign.
Among the messages exposed in an Inspector General’s report was one sent the day after Trump’s 2016 election:
‘Who knows if the rhetoric to deport people, walls and shit is true. I honestly feel that there will be many more gun problems, the crazy ones have finally won, ‘Clinesmith wrote. ‘This is the tea party about steroids. And the GOP is lost, they have to deal with a incumbent in 4 years. We must fight this again. Pence, too, is stupid. ”
Two weeks later, when a colleague asked Clinesmith if he was reconsidering his commitment to serve in the Trump administration, Clinesmith replied ‘Hell no’ and added ‘Viva le resistance’.
Prosecutors said in a written sentencing that political prejudice may have led to Clinesmith’s misconduct.
“It is plausible that his strong political views and / or personal aversion to the current president made him more willing to engage in the deceptive and unethical behavior he was guilty of,” prosecutors wrote. how the views could affect his offense, the accused clearly showed that he did not fulfill his important responsibilities at the FBI with the professionalism, integrity and objectivity required for such a sensitive position. “
However, the FBI attorney could not have done much on his own to influence or incite the Trump-Russia investigation, as he played a relatively small role in the investigation. In addition, his email modification took place in June 2017, at the end of the FBI’s surveillance of Page.
When Boasberg gave Page permission to speak during Friday’s trial, Judge Page ordered him to limit himself to commenting on the consequences of the FBI’s surveillance request in June 2017 and not the previous three surveillance orders the FBI won to Page to sniff.