“That’s just the beginning, I would imagine. This… what happened should never happen again,” President Trump said at a White House briefing Friday afternoon. “You’ll be hearing more.”
Durham’s “development” was a bigger deal than Barr indicated. – The guilty plea by ex-FBI/Mueller special counsel lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was not really surprising, but it is a big deal nonetheless, as it represents the first of what will likely become a series of ObamaGate dominoes to topple in the weeks to come.
In an interview with Captain Tick-Tock, Sean Hannity Thursday, Attorney General William Barr indicated that there would be a “development” in the John Durham investigation on Friday, but that it would not be “earth-shaking.” As is generally the case with Mr. Barr, that description turned out to be 100% accurate.
Clinesmith plead guilty to “making a false statement” to DOJ investigators about having altered an email about Carter Page in a manner that changed its entire meaning. Page had told investigators was a source for the CIA, and Clinesmith altered the email to say he was “not” a CIA source in order to support an FBI application for the third FISA warrant to spy on Mr. Page, which was executed in July, 2017.
Disturbingly, Clinesmith was assigned to the FBI’s National Security Division during 2016. He is an obviously leftist radical who bragged to colleagues about having played a part in the FBI’s role in trying to tilt the election towards Hillary Clinton, and to be working to “destroy the Republic.” Following Trump’s victory in 2016, Clinesmith, identified as “Attorney 2” in the Horowitz report, had this exchange with that fellow FBI lawyer:
Attorney 2: “I am numb.”
Other employee not involved in midyear investigation: “I can’t stop crying.”
Attorney 2: “That makes me even more sad.”
Employee “Like, what happened? You promised me this wouldn’t happen. YOU PROMISED…”
Attorney 2: “I am so stressed about what I could have done differently.”
Employee: “Don’t stress. None of that mattered. The FBI’s influence.”
Attorney 2: “I don’t know. We broke the momentum.”
Employee: “That is not so….”
Attorney 2: “I’m just devastated. I can’t wait until I can leave today and just shut off the world for the next four days…I just can’t imagine the systematic disassembly of the progress we made over the last 8 years. ACA is gone. Who knows if the rhetoric about deporting people, walls and crap is true. I honestly feel like there is going to be a lot more gun issues too, the crazies won finally. This is the tea party on steroids. And the GOP is going to be lost, they have to deal with an incumbent in 4 years. We have to fight this again. Also Pence is stupid.”
Attorney 2: “And it’s just hard not to feel like the FBI caused some of this. It was razor thin in some states. Plus my god damned name is all over the legal documents investigating his staff. So who knows if that breaks to him, what he is going to do.”
[End]
Clinesmith’s obvious hatred for President Trump and the American republic obviously made him the perfect FBI lawyer to be detailed over the Mueller Special Counsel probe when it got started in May 2017, and he was in that role, working directly with lead Mueller henchman Andrew Weissman, when he altered the email in question.
It’s important to remember that Clinesmith’s wrongdoing took place on the watch of Christopher Wray, not James Comey. It also took place under the watch of Rod Rosenstein after AG Jeff Sessions had recused himself. Rosenstein and Weissman were basically running the entire Department of Justice from May, 2017 through January, 2019, when William Barr came into the AG’s job.
Clinesmith was far from the only FBI employee who was involved in the attempted coup d’etat targeting President Trump. The Horowitz report named no fewer than five such skunks who brought disgrace on themselves during this sorry episode in U.S. history.
Thus, Clinesmith’s guilty plea in and of itself was not especially earth-shaking. But the way in which its thread is likely to reverberate throughout the entire apparatus of the FBI/DOJ coup cabal that existed during 2016 and 2017 is likely to be.
It’s key to note that, in his interview with Hannity, Barr also said that Durham’s efforts would not be delayed by political considerations over the upcoming election, and that there would be more to come from him soon. As I noted above, Barr’s public statements have a way of being proven true.
Stay tuned. The fun is just beginning, and payback is going to be hell.
That is all.
Today’s news moves at a faster pace than ever. Whatfinger is my go-to source for keeping up with all the latest events in real time.