Ye gods, this one has it all: Boasberg, Clinesmith, Strzok, Page, Hillary, Comey, et al:
Convicted FBI lawyer spared from prison by Boasberg far more involved in Russia probe than known
The judge who has emerged as a top foe of Trump's deportation efforts previously let a well-known Trump-Russia collusion hoax proponent off the hook. But newly-declassified Crossfire Hurricane records show the FBI's Kevin Clinesmith was deeply involved in in the bogus Russiagate saga.
Convicted FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith — whom Judge James Boasberg gave a slap on the wrist for his crimes years before becoming a public foe of President Donald Trump’s deportation policies — was more deeply involved in the deeply flawed Crossfire Hurricane investigation than previously known.
Clinesmith, who worked on both the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email investigation and on the Trump-Russia collusion inquiry, pleaded guilty to falsifying a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew FISA authority to wiretap Carter Page, who was an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign.
Newly-declassified details about Clinesmith’s involvement include a wide swath of information about his role in the case. He was a key go-to for former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok throughout the debunked collusion saga and a main driver in obtaining a FISA warrant against Page based on the infamous Steele dossier.
Clinesmith also granted his seal of approval on a document describing the FBI’s pretextual briefing of then-candidate Trump, was deeply involved in the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, played a role in going after former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and more. He also helped the FBI push its “Cross Wind” investigation, which Just the News can confirm related to the targeting of security expert Walid Phares, which resulted in no accusations of wrongdoing and no charges.
Knee-deep in the mud
Clinesmith confessed in August 2020 that he had manipulated a CIA email in 2017 to state that Carter Page was “not a source” for the CIA when that agency had actually told the bureau on multiple occasions that Page was in fact an “operational contact” for the CIA.
Boasberg, the federal judge who is blocking Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelan gang members, also played a key and controversial role in the aftermath of the Trump-Russia collusion saga as the leader of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The judge, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by then-President Barack Obama in 2011, is currently engaged in an all-out legal battle with the Trump Justice Department.
But in his role as the head of the FISA Court he made a number of divisive decisions, including a slap on the wrist for a member of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team, the appointment of officials who had defended the FBI’s actions during the Russiagate saga, the renewal of the FBI’s FISA powers, and more.
Boasberg defends Clinesmith
Boasberg ruled this week that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt after they violated his orders by continuing deportation flights. But his ruling follows the Supreme Court holding that Boasberg's court was in an improper venue for the case altogether.
Boasberg, in his role as a federal judge, denied the Justice Department’s efforts to seek up to six months behind bars for Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in Special Counsel John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation — instead giving Clinesmith a year of probation, 400 hours of community service, and no fine.
Durham argued that Clinesmith’s “deceptive conduct” related to the FISA application fabrication “was antithetical to the duty of candor and eroded the FISA’s confidence in the accuracy of all previous FISA applications worked on by the defendant,” and said his deception “fueled public distrust of the FBI and of the entire FISA program itself.”
But Boasberg seemed to defend Clinesmith’s deceptive FISA-related actions during his January 2021 sentencing.
"Mr. Clinesmith likely believed that what he said was true," Boasberg wrote, adding, "I do not believe he was attempting to achieve an end he knew was wrong." The judge claimed that "it is not clear to me that the fourth FISA warrant would not have been signed but for this error. … Even if Mr. Clinesmith had been accurate about Mr. Page’s relationship with the other government agency, the warrant may well have been signed and the surveillance authorized."
Durham had argued that Clinesmith's deception "fueled public distrust of the FBI and of the entire FISA program itself.” Anthony Scarpelli, then a top prosecutor on Durham’s team, also argued that “the defendant’s criminal conduct tarnished the integrity of the FISA program” and that “the resulting harm is immeasurable.”
Clinesmith told the court that “I am deeply remorseful for any effect my actions may have had” on the FISA process even as he claimed that “I never intended to mislead my colleagues about the status of Dr. Page.”
But Boasberg lamented that Clinesmith had been “abused” and “vilified” on a “national scale” when the judge handed down his sentence, though he did acknowledge that the FISA court’s reputation “has suffered” from the ex-FBI attorney’s actions.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz in 2019 found huge flaws with the FBI’s Russia collusion investigation, finding at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. He also criticized the “central and essential” role of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s debunked dossier in the FBI’s politicized FISA surveillance. Clinesmith reportedly circulated the dossier to other law enforcement staff.
FBI notes of a January 2017 interview with Steele source Igor Danchenko showed he told the bureau he “did not know the origins” of some of Steele's claims and “did not recall” other dossier information. Danchenko also noted much of what he gave to Steele was “word of mouth and hearsay,” some of which stemmed from a “conversation that [he] had with friends over beers,” and the most salacious allegations may have been made in “jest.”
The special counsel assessed that “the FBI ignored the fact that at no time before, during, or after Crossfire Hurricane were investigators able to corroborate a single substantive allegation in the Steele dossier reporting.”
The new revelations about Clinesmith come partly through further declassified text messages sent by Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and others involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Boasberg did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News sent to his office. Clinesmith did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News which was sent to the lawyer who defended him in the Durham case.
Collaboration on the Carter Page FISA
The newly-declassified FBI records show that Clinesmith messaged Lisa Page that “we have the final draft of the DRAGON FISA” on Oct. 11, 2016 — using the “Crossfire Dragon” codename for Carter Page. Clinesmith and Lisa Page then strategized about how to get the FISA approved as quickly as possible. Lisa Page said that “I can call [Comey chief of staff Jim] Rybicki, ask him to check in with the D [Director Comey].” Clinesmith replied, “If you think that’s acceptable, it might be a good thing to do; that would help us get it to the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] more quickly.”
Amidst the push to use the Steele dossier in the Carter Page FISA and to get the FISA approved, Strzok sent a message to since-fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe two days later saying, “We got [Steele] reporting on September 19. Looks like Gaeta got it in August. Looking at Clinesmith’s Lync messages to me it’s not clear if he knows if/when he told them.” Steele’s longtime FBI handler was Michael Gaeta.
The Durham report concluded that “The delayed dissemination within the FBI of the sensational information contained in the Steele Reports is both perplexing and troubling. Indeed, the failure of recollection by FBI personnel concerning the matter certainly raises the question of whether the FBI had misgivings from the start about the provenance and reliability of the Steele Reports. Nevertheless, within two days of their eventual receipt by the Crossfire Hurricane team, information from four of the Steele Reports were being used to support probable cause in the initial FISA application on Carter Page.”
Clinesmith and Lisa Page then exchanged a series of messages on October 20, 2016.
Lisa Page asked Clinesmith if it was signed yet, and Clinesmith told her it was over at the Justice Department to be signed by FBI and DOJ leadership, saying, “Court has given comments. Waiting for next word.” Lisa Page told Clinesmith, “Thanks for all your crazy work — if we get it, it’s a huge testament to your effort.” Clinesmith commented that “it’s been an adventure” and Lisa Page replied, “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.”
Strzok asked FBI lawyer Sally Moyer “what facilities are we covering for Dragon?” on March 1, 2017. Strzok then messaged Clinesmith that “I needed Dragon facilities but I got them from [REDACTED].”
Clinesmith altered docs, hid information from FISA court
Horowitz said the third renewal application against Carter Page “again failed to disclose Carter Page's past relationship with the other agency” because of Clinesmith’s actions.
"Supervisory Special Agent 2" — who swore to an affidavit for all three FISA renewals against Page in 2017 — told Horowitz's investigators that on the third renewal he wanted "a definitive answer to whether Page had ever been a source for another U.S. government agency before he signed the final renewal application."
While in contact with the CIA's liaison, Clinesmith was reminded that back in August 2016, predating the first Page warrant application in October 2016, the CIA informed the FBI that Page "did, in fact, have a prior relationship with that other agency [the CIA]."
An email from the CIA’s liaison was sent to Clinesmith, who then "altered the liaison's email by inserting the words 'not a source' into it, thus making it appear that the liaison had said that Page was 'not a source' for the other agency" and then sent it to "Supervisory Special Agent 2," Horowitz found.
Judge Rosemary Collyer, then the presiding judge over the FISA court, in December 2019 ordered an FBI review of every FISA filing that Clinesmith had ever touched following the release of Horowitz’s report that month on Crossfire Hurricane. The FISA court criticized the FBI’s handling of the Page applications as “antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” and demanded corrective action from the bureau.
Sign off on doc detailing pretextual briefing of Trump
Republicans have long pointed to a double standard in how FBI defensive briefings were used in high-profile cases involving political figures. Hillary Clinton received a defensive briefing on efforts by Turkey to influence her, and defensive briefings were also given to Rep. Eric Swalwell and then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein about their close ties to suspected Chinese agents, which effectively ended the FBI’s criminal or counterintelligence investigations.
The FBI’s first intelligence briefing of then-candidate Trump in August 2016 at its New York field office was used as a “pretext” to gather evidence on him and on then-foreign policy adviser Flynn, according to 2019 testimony from Horowitz. FBI official Joseph Pientka conducted the briefing and would later accompany Strzok to interview Flynn in January 2017.
“They sent a supervisory agent to the briefing from the Crossfire Hurricane team, and that agent prepared a report to the file of the briefing about what Mr. Trump and Mr. Flynn said,” Horowitz previously testified. “So the agent was actually doing the briefing but also using it for the purpose of investigation.”
The pretextual meeting targeting Trump and Flynn was detailed in an FBI record titled “Document Brief to Republican Candidate for U.S. President.” It is now known that it was “drafted” by Pientka and was “approved” by “KEVIN E. CLINESMITH” and “STRZOK PETER.”
Pientka had messaged Strzok on Aug. 28, using the “RAZOR” codename for Flynn and saying, “Thoughts from you regarding what I write up if anything regarding the CI brief I gave? Assessment on RAZOR as he is a subject, but leave the other two out other than I provided a CI [counterintelligence] brief? I think it prudent to document what I said and admonished them of… especially if any of the classified is ever on CNN, debate, etc.”
Strzok told Pientka, “Def let’s write up. I think an EC [electronic communication] should be OK. Do you envision anything testimonial in there? If Sally or Kevin have strong opinions I’d defer to them.” It was “Kevin” who would document the politicized briefing.
Clinesmith Targets Flynn
The newly declassified FBI records show Clinesmith’s deep involvement in the FBI’s efforts to target Flynn.
“Hey heads up per [REDACTED] WH is rips*t about leak of contents of call between P and foreign counterpart and are urgently asking for process for media leak referral,” Strzok told FBI colleagues on Feb. 1, 2017. “To the extent we have people sharing information of this nature with us, we need to be very cautious about it. Including caution about reaching out to them now. Think about it now, let’s discuss later.”
An FBI official whose name was redacted from the documents replied, “I’m not. I just talked to Kevin and he said he heard they were concerned about leaks of the transcripts from calls with Mexico and Australia.” Strzok replied, “He gave me a different presentation of the facts.”
Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were leaked to the media in early 2017. Republicans have alleged since 2017 that Obama-era officials improperly unmasked associates of then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign during the Russia collusion investigation, while Democrats have defended the intelligence-gathering process.
A Washington Post column in mid-January 2017 contained classified details that set off a media frenzy. Citing an unnamed “senior U.S. government official,” it said Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak spoke on the phone in December 2016, the day former President Barack Obama announced actions against Russia, and suggested Flynn had violated the Logan Act.
Leaks and unmasking
A follow-up article by the Washington Post in early February 2017 revealed classified details from Flynn’s monitored calls with Kislyak, citing “nine current and former officials” in “senior positions at multiple agencies.”
John Bash, the U.S. attorney tasked in 2020 with investigating the “unmasking” scandal, concluded that Flynn’s name had not even been hidden to begin with when the FBI shared information across the Obama administration.
The content and transcripts of Trump’s phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia were also leaked to the media in 2017.
A redacted FBI official told Strzok that another redacted FBI official had “managed to piss off” Flynn. Strzok asked what the other FBI official had done, and the first FBI official said that “Flynn expected the brief and was told it wouldn’t happen because of Kevin.” The names of both FBI officials remain redacted.
Strzok told Lisa Page, “Just thinking he might have not (or been afraid) to tell Flynn… Told Kevin in no uncertain terms the FBI had done everything it could and was waiting on WH before we could do anything else.”
"Out to get Trump"
The declassified Strzok texts document also includes a message which says, “Just heard from Kevin, he said he went ‘up to Flynn’s office’ and was unable to get validation of either the brief or the EO [executive order]” on Feb. 8, 2017.
William Barnett, the FBI agent who handled Flynn’s case in 2016 and 2017, called the Trump-Russia investigation “Collusion Clue” and argued many investigators were out to “get Trump.”
The FBI summary stated that “while Barnett questioned the investigative theory, he did not think at the time the investigation was illegal, particularly due to the oversight by attorneys (i.e., CLINESMITH) and the direction being given by top FBI officials.” Barnett said he “was willing to follow instructions being given by the Deputy Director as long as it was not a violation of law.”
Barnett said Clinesmith physically walked National Security Letter requests on Flynn to get approval.
Top FBI officials discussed the possibility of prosecuting Flynn for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians while agents planned how to conduct their January 2017 interview of the Trump national security adviser, bureau notes show.
“I agreed yesterday that we shouldn’t show Flynn [REDACTED] if he didn’t admit” but “I thought about it last night and I believe we should rethink this,” Bill Priestap, the FBI’s head of counterintelligence, wrote in January 2017. “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Steele Dossier dissemination
The newly-declassified documents also now show a few new details about how the Steele dossier and Steele’s false claims were circulated inside the FBI, and Clinesmith’s name has now been unredacted as having been a recipient in roughly a dozen emails in December 2016 related to the Steele dossier.
Just the News obtained in 2021 internal FBI emails discussing the Steele dossier. These emails were sent between FBI agents such as Strzok, Moffa, and at least 13 FBI officials whose names were redacted. The newly declassified version removes the redactions on many of the FBI officials who were sending and receiving dossier updates.
The FBI emails from December 2016 include an FBI official with the Washington Field Office sending an email to Strzok, Moffa, and roughly a dozen FBI officials discussing a thumb drive provided by former DOJ official Bruce Ohr. The email includes a “tracking matrix” on the receipt of Steele dossier reports, including from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson. Clinesmith is now known to have been a recipient of those emails.
Marc Elias, a former Perkins Coie lawyer who served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, played a key role in the funding and spreading of Steele’s phony dossier. He hired the opposition firm Fusion GPS, which, in turn, hired Steele.
Another email in December 2016 is now known to have been sent by Pientka and received by Clinesmith. It was known it had said: “As many of you know we obtained a USB drive from Glenn Simpson via a DOJ colleague. We are handling as evidence and a working copy is in the share drive where we have historically kept CROWN reporting, the folder labeled [REDACTED] Reporting, sub folder Simpson 121216.”
The FBI documents also include a spreadsheet laying out how Steele dossier reports had been injected into the FBI. The columns in the spreadsheet included Steele to the FBI, leftwing journalist David Corn to the FBI, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson to the FBI, former Republican Sen. John McCain to the FBI, the version published by BuzzFeed, and [REDACTED]. The redacted column label now says “[FGI”] — indicating Steele dossier reports were sent to the bureau by a yet-unrevealed foreign government.
“I just uploaded to our share drive the documents and files that Bruce Ohr’s wife (through Bruce) voluntarily provided to the FBI this morning,” another December 2016 email now known to have been received by Clinesmith states. “They are reports/work she completed for Fusion GPS/Glenn Simpson (similar to the one she gave us on Manafort last week). They are under the Fusion GPS file on the share drive. Please review (there are approx 85 docs...) and once we have a grasp of what's on there I can submit to the appropriate case files.”
The Durham report concluded that “the FISA on Carter Page would not have been authorized without the Steele reporting.”
Clinesmith and Papadopoulos
Newly-declassified records show Clinesmith was also involved in the investigation into George Papadopoulos.
FBI agent Michael Varacalli messaged Strzok at the start of February 2017 to say that “CG is reaching out to TYPHOON via phone to try to get a one-on-one meet. If he wants to meet us with an attorney present, we may send Sally or Kevin tomorrow to join Curtis in any interview.” The FBI agent used the “TYPHOON” codename for Papadopoulos. Strzok soon sent Lisa Page a message that “they’re talking to Typhoon now, without an atty [attorney].”
Varacalli sent another message to Strzok that day asking, “Did you get the TYPHOON update from them when you spoke to [REDACTED]/Kevin?”
“Hey I have some more info re Typhoon interview,” Moyer told Strzok on Mar. 27, 2017. “After the call from Typhoon on Friday, DOJ (Brandon van Grack) and EDVA [Eastern District of Virginia] asked Kevin to reach out to Typhoon’s attorney. They don’t want their participation known yet.”
Strzok claimed in his 2020 book, Compromised, that Australian diplomat Alexander Downer was spurred to inform the U.S. government about a May 2016 conversation he had in London with Papadopoulos (in which the Trump campaign associate allegedly mentioned Russia might have information on Clinton) only after hearing then-candidate Trump say in July 2016: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails.”
Mueller and Horowitz concluded Australia actually informed the United States of the Papadopoulos conversation on July 26, 2016. Trump made the comment about Russia the day after — not before.
Strzok also seemed to make that claim in March 2017 when briefing Justice Department and FBI officials about the Trump-Russia investigation. Strzok admitted in September 2020 he had gotten that detail wrong in his book, though he downplayed it.
Strzok establishes a pattern of untruths
Handwritten notes labeled as by Tashina Gauhar, then the associate deputy attorney general, indicate Strzok made the same misleading claim about Trump’s remarks, prompting the Australian to reach out to the FBI when briefing then-acting Attorney General Dana Boente and others on March 6, 2017.
The “opening electronic communication” for Crossfire Hurricane was authored by Strzok and authorized by Priestap at the end of July 2016. The FBI didn’t formally interview Papadopoulos until January 2017.
Durham’s report in 2023 concluded that “the matter was opened as a full investigation without ever having spoken to the persons who provided the information” and that the FBI launched this Trump-Russia investigation without “any significant review of its own intelligence databases” and without “collection and examination of any relevant intelligence from other U.S. intelligence entities.” The investigation was also launched without conducting any interviews of “witnesses essential to understand the raw information” the FBI had received, as well as without using “any of the standard analytical tools typically employed by the FBI in evaluating raw intelligence.”
The Durham report asserted that if the bureau had taken these basic steps, “the FBI would have learned that their own experienced Russia analysts had no information about Trump being involved with Russian leadership officials, nor were others in sensitive positions at the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of State aware of such evidence concerning the subject.”
“Cross Wind”
Clinesmith was also involved in Crossfire Hurricane’s mysterious “Cross Wind” investigation.
“Talked to Pete,” Clinesmith told Lisa Page on May 17, 2017. “Will proceed accordingly. We also have the special FISA package for the D today. Just need to coordinate handing that off for signature at some point.” Lisa Page responded to Clinesmith, “Okay, that’s easy enough. He should be available around 2 to sign that.”
The same day, Clinesmith asked Lisa Page, “Is there time tomorrow, say 3PM or after, that you can schedule a signing for Cross Wind with the Acting Director? It appears the field is still finalizing it today.” Lisa Page replied, “Totally doable. Let’s talk later.”
Amidst a discussion about Flynn and “CROWN” on June 29, 2017, Moyer told Strzok, “Well presumably we should be sharing these results with the entire CW [Cross Wind] team. But for right now we need Kevin [REDACTED].”
A message in the declassified Strzok texts also shows a request to “call me about wind please” on May 16, 2017. And a discussion within the Strzok texts also shows a discussion about “wind” on June 2, 2017. The FBI officials discussed a meeting scheduled for the next day with the FBI leadership, and they weren’t sure if it was about “Razor” — Flynn — or about “Wind.” One of the FBI agents said that “I heard wind.” And another one of the FBI agents also said, “Wait, I forget the codename. Oh yes, Wind.”
Trump ally and national security expert Walid Phares was codenamed “Cross Wind” by the FBI, Just the News can confirm.
Phares confirmed to Just the News in 2020 that he had been investigated by the FBI and Mueller related to Egypt. The allegation — like many in the Russia case — turned out to be spurious, and Phares was never charged with wrongdoing by Mueller’s team. Phares argued in 2020 that “the push against the Trump campaign, and then the transition, and then the administration was on behalf of those who wanted to defend the Iran deal” struck by the Obama administration.
Phares told Just the News this week that multiple sources, including congressional sources, had told him that “Cross Wind” was the code name the FBI had used for him, but that neither the FBI nor the Mueller team had ever told him that. Phares said it remains unclear what exactly the Mueller team and the FBI had wanted with him — he said he was told it was not related to Russia, and that they asked him questions about the Trump campaign and Egypt, but they never even said he was a target of the investigation.
“Nothing ever came of it,” Phares said.
A source familiar with the FBI's investigation also confirmed with Just the News that the FBI's scrutiny of Phares was codenamed "Cross Wind."
Phares said in 2020 that one of the events that landed him in the bullseye of the Russia probe occurred in September 2016, when Trump met with the Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from its brief reign of power in Cairo after a popular uprising.
The meeting was actually set up by others, but the Egyptians reached out to Phares, who was advising Trump at the time on Middle East issues, and he encouraged them to meet Trump, Phares said. Sisi actually met Trump and Hillary Clinton on the same day in New York. Phares didn’t attend those meetings.
A year later, Phares said he suddenly got a knock on his door from FBI agents working for Mueller’s probe. He was questioned several times by agents and prosecutors, as well as by House and Senate investigators. No charges were ever filed against him.
Multiple sources with direct knowledge previously told Just the News that U.S. intelligence during the Obama-Trump transition received allegations suggesting Phares may have accepted money or been acting as an unregistered lobbyist for Egyptians trying to gain influence with Trump. The uncorroborated allegations were eventually put into the scope memo signed in August 2017 by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that set the parameters for the work that Mueller’s team was to accomplish.
The New York Times reported in 2020 that “the decision to investigate Mr. Phares was based on highly classified information” and that “investigators examined the matter for months but ultimately brought no charges.”
Phares previously told Just the News that he cooperated as a witness and said he never was threatened with prosecution or confronted with any evidence of wrongdoing.
Clinesmith: "Viva le resistance"
The newly declassified text messages also show how Clinesmith was often the go-to guy for Strzok and Lisa Page. Strzok exchanged numerous anti-Trump texts with Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.
In Horowitz’s 2018 report on the FBI's politicized Clinton emails investigation, Clinesmith was mentioned multiple times as being one of the FBI officials who conveyed a bias against Trump. In messages exchanged the day after Trump’s November 2016 victory, Clinesmith worried that “my god damned name is all over the legal documents investigating his staff.”
Other messages showed Clinesmith said “Viva le resistance" in the weeks after Trump's win.
Clinesmith appeared to send a “Midyear Exam Final Draft” message to Strzok on August 10, 2016. The same day, Moyer messaged Lisa Page, “Just wanted to follow up on your call with DOS [Department of State] today. Kevin has a 302 [FBI interview] list which I believe we agreed to provide to DOS before we make our production to Congress.”
FBI agent John Robertson, who worked in the bureau’s child sex crimes unit in New York, unearthed tens of thousands of Clinton emails in late September 2016 on the laptop belonging to Clinton associate Huma Abedin’s husband, disgraced former New York congressman Anthony Weiner. But for weeks after being alerted, key FBI leaders — including McCabe, Priestap, and Strzok — took little to no action to investigate how Clinton's emails came to reside on Weiner's laptop, which also may have contained child pornography, according to an FBI report.
Horowitz wrote in 2018, “We did not have confidence that Strzok’s decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop was free from bias.”
Strzok wrote in 2020 that “of course” he prioritized the Trump-Russia investigation over the Clinton emails investigation because “there was simply no equivalence between Midyear and Crossfire.”
Other newly-declassified messages show FBI officials like Strzok and Page relying on Clinesmith.
In the Strzok texts document, an FBI official wrote that “I know Clinesmith did the work, but did the task go to [FBI general counsel Jim] Baker [REDACTED]? on Mar. 17, 2017. The same day, an FBI official wrote, “What has you fired up? Her presumption with [REDACTED] about being left out? Wasn’t [REDACTED] aware anyway? Sally was out [REDACTED] had the lead and gave to Kevin?”
The same day, Clinesmith messaged Strzok, “[Other Government Agency redaction] PCU wants to meet with DC Attorneys office tomorrow.”
Comey arranges leaks to media
Also the same day, Lisa Page messaged Pientka, “PS, I’m on the Special Counsel team now. For better or worse, I guess.” She then messaged Clinesmith, “I am listening to CNN essentially read from the Comey memos right now.” Clinesmith told her, “So, this was about that. If you have time I want to tip you off on some things.” — Page asked him to come to her office, and he said he was on his way.
Horowitz released a separate 2019 report focused on Comey’s mishandling of the memos he made about conversations he had with Trump in early 2017, harshly criticizing Comey’s decision to remove those memos from the FBI after he was fired and to provide some contents to a friend to leak to the media. Comey testified to Congress in 2017 that he hoped leaking this information “might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”
“Comey had several other lawful options available to him to advocate for the appointment of a special counsel, which he told us was his goal in making the disclosure,” Horowitz wrote. “What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”
Comey’s efforts were successful in prompting the appointment of Mueller.
“Can you come to the 11 prep with Baker??” Lisa Page messaged Clinesmith on April 5, 2017. “Sally might not make it back from Crossfire in time.”
Strzok also asked, “Hi Kevin, quick question for you — is the term [Other Government Agency redaction]” on June 5, 2017.
Clinesmith also told Strzok in August 2017 that “Judicial Watch sent in a FOIA re: your assignment to SCO [Special Counsel’s Office], just FYI.”
The conservative watchdog engaged in extensive Freedom of Information Act litigation to get its hands on information related to Strzok and his nefarious actions at the FBI and on the Mueller team.
Strzok later asked Clinesmith, “Hi Kevin, can I get whatever we have on a response to [Foreign Government Information redaction] CROWN?” on July 25, 2017. Clinesmith told Strzok, “I will get it to you within the hour.”
McCabe, who worked closely with Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, had signed the June 2017 FISA renewal targeting Carter Page, though he later told Congress he would not have done so if he knew in 2017 what he knew in 2020.
McCabe and Comey had pushed to include the Steele dossier in the body of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but they were thwarted by the NSA and CIA. The dossier was included in an annex to the assessment.
In 2020, the Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges against McCabe for allegedly lying to investigators about authorizing media disclosures.
Horowitz released a report in 2018 detailing multiple instances in which McCabe “lacked candor” with FBI Director James Comey, FBI investigators, and inspector general investigators about his authorization to leak sensitive information to The Wall Street Journal that revealed the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
Comey said he did not permit McCabe to tell the media, and Horowitz wrote that McCabe’s actions were “designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership” and “violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct.”
McCabe denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers declared that “justice has been done” when charges weren’t filed.
The Crossfire docs a profitable venture
Just the News also revealed last week that declassified documents show that Stefan Halper, a key FBI informant in the widely-debunked Russia collusion case, was paid nearly $1.2 million over three decades and was motivated in part by "monetary compensation" — and that he continued snitching for the bureau even after agents concluded he told them an inaccurate story about future Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.
Just the News further revealed last week that the newly-released documents showed that then-NSA director Mike Rogers shot down a Pulitzer Prize award-winning Washington Post article about the baseless Russian collusion investigation.
Declassified footnotes from the Horowitz report said that Steele received a total of $95,000 from the FBI during his time as a confidential human source for the bureau. Newly-declassified records from the FBI reviewed by Just the News show the bureau’s Validation Management Unit assessed in 2017 that Steele had actually received $127,500 in payments from the bureau.
The FBI offered Steele an “incentive” in October 2016 of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations in his discredited anti-Trump dossier, but the former MI6 agent was unable to back up his claims, according to 2022 court testimony in Durham’s investigation.
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