Even before he arrived to be Donald Trump’s personal attorney general, William Barr engaged in attacks against the Department of Justice investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Shortly after his approval by Senate Republicans, he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to begin an investigation into the investigation. After more than a year, Durham’s investigation has resulted in its first charges … sort of. Because the single charge is actually something that showed up in a review of the case by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz last December.
The single charge is directed at former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith and concerns the FISA warrant issued for the surveillance of Carter Page. In obtaining that warrant, Clinesmith was asked to make sure that Page was not an active source for an “other government agency,” almost certainly the CIA. Clinesmith apparently obtained this assurance, but sent an email that made it appear as if the statement had come from someone at the “other agency” rather than himself. And that is the crime for which he was indicted on Friday—a crime which, according to Horowitz’s report, did not invalidate the justification for issuing a warrant against Page.
The five-page document describing the charge against Clinesmith shows that he did in fact speak with officials at the unnamed agency and learned that Page had been a source up until 2013. Clinesmith was told that Page was not currently a source—a fact that no one disputes—and provided an email that included information about Page’s past activities. When later told that the agency had to provide something in writing showing that Page was not a current source, Clinesmith inserted “and is not a source” into a portion of the email that came from the representative he spoke with at the other agency.
This information appears to represent what Clinesmith was told, but it does show that he actively altered the email, and did so in a way that made it appear as if the information had come from his contact. There’s no doubt that what Clinesmith did was wrong—and in a document used in support of a warrant, illegal—but it also doesn’t seem to have materially altered anything.
That’s it.
It’s certain that Durham will be back with more before the election. In fact, Barr has made it clear that sometime between now and Nov. 3, he intends to pour out everything he’s learned during a round-the-world tour that included trying to convince allied intelligence agencies to support Trump’s conspiracy theories against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.
