[Ed. Note: What. a. Joke.]
by Penka Arsova
LaCorte News
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who altered an email during the Russia investigation, on Friday was sentenced to one-year long probation and 400 hours of community service.
How we got here: Clinesmith, who worked for the FBI for four years, pleaded guilty last year to falsifying a document that the FBI used to obtain a FISA warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The warrant was obtained as part of the agency’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and the country’s alleged ties with the Trump campaign.
The document was altered to say that Page was “not a source” for the CIA, despite the CIA previously telling investigators that he was an “operational contact” for the agency between 2008 and 2013 and gave it information about contacts with Russian intelligence officers.
The story: U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said that Clinesmith’s actions undermined the integrity of the FISA court but gave him no fine and no prison time. The judge said that he had already lost his job and a hit to his reputation.