FBI Attorney Clinesmith Did NOT Enter a Guilty Plea On Friday To the Filed Information — That Is Not Normal

Yesterday I filed a “hot take” story on the breaking news that former FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith was set to plead guilty to a single charge of making a “False Statement” in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, in relation to his actions in altering key information about Carter Page’s history as a CIA cooperating source, which resulted in false information being submitted as part of the FISA process leading to a FISA warrant targeting Page. A couple things happened during the course of the day that is unusual and raises questions in my mind based on my experience. Before I get to those I want to address a few important facts about Clinesmith, and clean up a few details from my story yesterday that wasn’t precisely correct when taking into account both the Inspector General’s Report on Four FISAs that first “outed” Clinesmith’s illegal actions, and the description of those actions in the Information filed yesterday. -- More...