We are live for the Kevin Clinesmith sentencing hearing.
Clinesmith is charged with altering an email - falsifying a document - in an effort to get the 4th Carter Page FISA warrant.
Judge Boasberg has entered the hearing.
Follow this thread for updates.
Judge starts by hearing from Carter Page:
The national media accused me of being "an agent of a foreign power"
I've been harassed in person.
"I know what it's like for your life to be destroyed"
Carter Page:
I first collaborated with the CIA while in the military. I never betrayed that trust.
My life "spun out of control" due to the false allegations.
I had "no privacy" - everything was monitored by the gov't
They physically searched my belongings and hotel room.
DOJ attorney Anthony Scarpelli now speaks:
Clinesmith undermined FISA.
Altering the CIA email led the FBI/DOJ to submit a false and misleading FISA warrant.
DOJ atty Scarpelli:
Clinesmith was asked to confirm to CIA if Carter Page was a source.
CIA assessed that Page was "candid" in his contacts w/ Russia.
Clinesmith declined CIA offer to provide additional info on Carter Page as a source.
He instead altered the "source" email
DOJ atty Scarpelli:
Clinesmith lied to his FBI supervisor about Carter Page's relationship with the CIA.
He then forwarded the altered email to the FBI supervisor.
Clinesmith's actions were "incredibly egregious" and misled the FISA Court
DOJ atty Scarpelli:
Clinesmith fails to take responsibility for his actions
His claim that he though the alteration was "accurate" is "troubling"
Clinesmith's excuse for altering the email "flies in the face of the facts"
His real motive was to avoid disclosure to FISA court.
DOJ atty Scarpelli closes:
Clinesmith was an FBI lawyer. He "betrayed the trust."
Requests "a more significant sentence" of prison
Clinesmith attorney:
Clinesmith "has lived his life in service of others"
There were many other people who made mistakes in the FISA applications.
Clinesmith believed Carter Page was not a CIA source and the alteration was not material. He didn't try to hide anything.
Clinesmith attorney:
There is nothing to suggest that Clinesmith's falsification caused the last FISA application to be renewed.
He points out that the FISA application was supported by other errors (lies).
Requesting leniency - that Clinesmith's life is already altered
Kevin Clinesmith speaks:
I thought I was accurately altering the email.
"I never intended to mislead" the FBI or the Court.
Is he on the verge of tears?
Recall his November 2016 text: "Viva le Resistance!" 🤡
Judge Boasberg speaks:
Courts all over the country expect gov't representations to be correct.
The reliance is greatest in secret court hearings (FISA court).
Judge Boasberg:
The FISA Court reputation has suffered. Public trust is diminished.
However - the Judge suggests he is buying Clinesmith's excuses.
Judge Boasberg:
Seems sympathetic to Clinesmith. Describes what Clinesmith "has suffered"
Sentence: Probation.
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