Graham on Durham Probe: Ex-FBI Attorney 'Knows Where the Bodies are Buried'
A 'great day for the rule of law'
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith's expected guilty plea, in U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation to the origins of the Russia probe, should concern potential suspects.
Speaking during an interview on "Hannity" Friday, Graham told host Trey Gowdy that Clinesmith's pending plea marks a "great day for the rule of law."
Clinesmith is due to plead guilty for making a false statement in the first criminal case from Durham's investigation.
Clinesmith was previously accused (but not by name) by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz of altering an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to say Page was "not a source" for another government agency.
Page revealed he was a source for the CIA.
The DOJ relied on the assertion as it submitted a third and final renewal application in 2017 in order to eavesdrop on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
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"Something tells me that Mr. Clinesmith knows where the bodies are buried, and if I were in the FBI working on Crossfire Hurricane [the Russia investigation], I would be very worried right now," Graham said.
"An FBI lawyer in charge of reviewing warrants is going to plead guilty to falsifying documents to the FISA court against a Trump advisor, and if you are lucky, you'll find this in the mainstream media for 30 seconds."
Graham claimed that if an FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to falsifying documents to target Hillary Clinton's advisers, there would be a different story in the media.
"What this lawyer did is a really big deal," Graham said.
"We have to trust the system, there has to be a certain amount of trust," Graham added.
"This is a lawyer, a man of the law, a member of the bar, who took it upon himself to falsify documents and keep an investigation going that should've been stopped."
"This is a big day for transparency and the rule of law."
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Clinesmith was found to have sent several anti-Trump texts after Trump was elected.
In 2016, he texted an FBI colleague following Trump's win, asking if he would serve in the Trump administration: “Viva le resistance."
Clinesmith texts also expressed disappointment in Trump's election, saying “the crazies won finally” and that the Trump administration would be “the tea party on steroids.”
“The GOP is going to be lost, they have to deal with an incumbent in 4 years,” he wrote.
“We have to fight this again. Also Pence is stupid.”
