The Russiagate cover-up rolls merrily along, with the agitprop media almost completely ignoring a startling instance of the Deep State taking care of its own, even when they are caught red-handed committing grave felonies.

Does the name Kevin Clinesmith ring a bell?  He's the FBI lawyer who lied on a FISA warrant in order to be able to spy on the Trump campaign by falsely implicating Carter Page.  He was caught red-handed in altering an email 180 degrees.

Lying to a judge is a serious offense for anyone.  But for an officer of the court, one who works for the government and has a heightened obligation to serve justice, to lie to a court is a very serious breach.  Failure to punish government officials who perjure themselves in order to spy on innocent citizens and a presidential campaign invites the worst kind of abuse.  It plants the seeds of tyranny.

Special Counsel John Durham was not interested in punishing Clinesmith severely, but at least he did ask for prison time last December, albeit under six months' worth.  But federal judge James Boasberg, the very judge lied to, was sympathetic to Clinesmith and sentenced him to 12 months of probation and 400  hours of community service in January.

Judge James Boasberg.

Judge Boasberg was appointed to the federal Bench by Obama and placed on the FISA court by Chief Justice Roberts.  He is reportedly a member of Skull & Bones, the ultra-elite secret society at Yale University.  

Now, very quietly, word has spread that Clinesmith will be able to practice law again in just a couple of months.

James Freeman writes in the Wall Street Journal writes about Clinesmith's remarkable full recovery.  He correctly describes him as:

the criminal who falsified evidence, which resulted in the surveillance powers of the federal government being turned against a citizen, Carter Page, for participating in a U.S. political campaign.

Freeman notes:

You'll find precious few media reports about it but fortunately Mike Scarcella of Reuters reports:

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith has agreed to a one-year suspension of his attorney license in Washington, D.C., following his conviction in August 2020 on a felony false-statement charge arising from the internal review of the special counsel's Russia investigation, new bar records show.

He continues:

The penalty is even more modest than it initially appears because the suspension is backdated to his conviction so this abuser of government power will be allowed to practice law again this August. Add District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility disciplinary counsel Hamilton P. Fox, III and his assistant William R. Ross to the disgraceful ranks of swamp creatures like Judge James Boasberg who have refused to punish appropriately this federal assault on liberty.

He states that this leniency "only encourages other government officials to fabricate evidence."

Judge Boasberg didn't even get his facts straight.  NBC's Pete Williams reported at the time of Clinesmith's sentencing that

Federal District Court Judge James Boasberg said that while Clinesmith's actions were serious, the warrant application probably would have been approved anyway without his misstatement. Boasberg also serves as the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Freeman says:

The judge was wrong, which suggests that he couldn't even be bothered to read the inspector general's report. There was a reason Clinesmith doctored the infamous email and it was only after his fabrication that another official signed off on the final renewal of the surveillance warrant.

So the message to future Lisa Pages, Andrew McCabes, and Kevin Clinesmiths is, don't worry about breaking the law if you're going after opponents of the Deep State.  We'll make sure you get a slap on the wrist.

I wonder what kind of job in the law will await Clinesmith.  Judge Boasberg thought losing his FBI job was a big punishment.  But I suspect that there is a nice job awaiting a made man who can keep his mouth shut while breaking the law in pursuit of opponents of the Deep State.

There is still a tiny sliver of hope that Clinesmith struck a deal, that Durham has gotten evidence on the record to go after bigger fish.  I devoutly wish that to be the case.  But I have to say that hope has been fading for quite a while, and now is vanishingly small.

Photo credit: Court photo.

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