https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/02/who-dc-judge-who-let-fbi-criminal-light-lloyd-billingsley/
On Friday, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith got a “slap on the wrist,” Debra Heine reports, for falsifying an email in the quest to gain a FISA warrant to spy on an American citizen, Carter Page. Clinesmith was facing a maximum five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, so twelve months probation, a $100 fine and 400 hours of community service, is indeed a slap on the wrist. Even so, it still falls short.
Carter Page might expect the judge to lecture Clinesmith about the lawyer about sullying the reputation of the FBI and DOJ, and betraying the federal government that employed him to uphold the law. None of that for District of Columbia judge James Boasberg. He opted for leniency because the allegedly remorseful Clinesmith had suffered by losing his job and “standing in the eye of a media hurricane.” It was a curious choice of words for the Obama appointee.
“Crossfire Hurricane” was the name of the FBI-DOJ covert operation against candidate and President Trump. And as it turns out, according to official sources, since 2014 Boasberg has served as the presiding judge of United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.”
That detail failed to turn up in news reports on Clinesmith’s slap on the wrist, which was much less than three to six month prison sentence sought by special counsel John Durham. After appointment by attorney general William Barr in May, 2019, Durham has failed to bring any criminal charges against major “Crossfire Hurricane” players James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and others.