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As the U.S. government seeks prison time for a former FBI lawyer who admitted falsifying evidence to spy on a former Trump aide, the District of Columbia Bar association hasn’t begun an investigation to strip him of his law license, records show.
Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is still listed as an “active” attorney in “good standing” with the D.C. Bar despite forging a document to win approval to spy on Page. The defendant, Kevin Eugene Clinesmith, is still listed as an “active” attorney in “good standing” with the Democrat-controlled D.C. Bar, despite his having pleaded guilty more than five months ago to illegally altering a document used for authorization to electronically eavesdrop on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of the FBI’s Russiagate probe.
A search of the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel database of "disciplinary proceedings" turns up no such proceedings against Clinesmith, even though his guilty plea was reported to the bar and the bar's board has received at least one formal complaint demanding his disbarment.
“The only appropriate sanction for committing a serious felony that also interfered with the proper administration of justice and constituted misrepresentation, fraud and moral turpitude is disbarment,” the National Legal and Policy Center said in a complaint it filed with the bar on Sept. 10. “Anything less would minimize the seriousness of the misconduct.”
The 38-year-old Clinesmith, a registered Democrat who sent anti-Trump rants to FBI colleagues after the Republican was elected in 2016, awaits sentencing on Friday.
In arguing for leniency, lawyers for Clinesmith have told the court that their client “self-reported his conduct and his guilty plea to the authorities where he is licensed as an attorney. And he has voluntarily offered to stop practicing law until those disciplinary authorities complete their review of Kevin’s conduct.”
But Paul Kamenar, the National Legal and Policy Center counsel who drafted the ethics watchdog’s complaint, said Clinesmith appears to have violated a bar rule requiring him to report his crime within 10 days of his guilty plea in August.
Clinesmith was admitted to the D.C. bar in 2008 and the Michigan bar a year earlier, after he graduated from Michigan State University Law School.
Unlike the D.C. Bar, the State Bar of Michigan automatically suspended Clinesmith from practicing law in the state on Aug. 19, the day the court accepted his guilty plea.
However, a notice of the action was not posted on the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board website until Jan. 14. And the document does not come up under his name in the directory of all Michigan attorneys who have been the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
“That’s very strange,” a State Bar of Michigan spokeswoman said.
Still, "he is under disciplinary suspension,” she confirmed. "He is not in good standing.”
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The D.C. Bar, with more than 100,000 members from across the country, did not respond to questions regarding why it hasn't started a disciplinary review. But a longstanding member of the bar suspects board members are “dragging their feet because of politics.”
“The District of Columbia is a very liberal bar,” he said. “Basically, the leaders of the bar are liberal Democrats and may want to go light on the guy because he’s also a Democrat who hated Trump.”
Last month, 25 former D.C. Bar presidents published a letter in the Washington Post attacking then-President Trump for filing “groundless” lawsuits in battleground states where poll workers had complained in sworn affidavits about witnessing voter fraud and ballot tampering in favor of Joe Biden. The bar officials, who included former Clinton ally Jamie Gorelick and close Biden confidant Mark Tuohey, claimed Trump “abuse[d] the judicial system to subvert the democratic process."
www.realclearinvestigations.com
This guy pleaded guilty to a felony, and is automatically subject to being disciplined by the DC bar. 5 months, nothing happened. WTF? Anybody want to claim it wouldn't have been different if Clinesmith was a repub who altered a legal document for Trump? The guy would've been in prison by now.
Gee, he self-reported his felony and voluntarily stopped practicing law, what a guy. Probably right after he found out the DOJ was going to fry his ass anyway. The plain and simple truth is that if this kind of bullshit goes unpunished then we can expect future incidents of misconduct. If there no consequences and no penalty imposed, then there is no deterrence for future illegal acts.
Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is still listed as an “active” attorney in “good standing” with the D.C. Bar despite forging a document to win approval to spy on Page. The defendant, Kevin Eugene Clinesmith, is still listed as an “active” attorney in “good standing” with the Democrat-controlled D.C. Bar, despite his having pleaded guilty more than five months ago to illegally altering a document used for authorization to electronically eavesdrop on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of the FBI’s Russiagate probe.
A search of the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel database of "disciplinary proceedings" turns up no such proceedings against Clinesmith, even though his guilty plea was reported to the bar and the bar's board has received at least one formal complaint demanding his disbarment.
“The only appropriate sanction for committing a serious felony that also interfered with the proper administration of justice and constituted misrepresentation, fraud and moral turpitude is disbarment,” the National Legal and Policy Center said in a complaint it filed with the bar on Sept. 10. “Anything less would minimize the seriousness of the misconduct.”
The 38-year-old Clinesmith, a registered Democrat who sent anti-Trump rants to FBI colleagues after the Republican was elected in 2016, awaits sentencing on Friday.
In arguing for leniency, lawyers for Clinesmith have told the court that their client “self-reported his conduct and his guilty plea to the authorities where he is licensed as an attorney. And he has voluntarily offered to stop practicing law until those disciplinary authorities complete their review of Kevin’s conduct.”
But Paul Kamenar, the National Legal and Policy Center counsel who drafted the ethics watchdog’s complaint, said Clinesmith appears to have violated a bar rule requiring him to report his crime within 10 days of his guilty plea in August.
Clinesmith was admitted to the D.C. bar in 2008 and the Michigan bar a year earlier, after he graduated from Michigan State University Law School.
Unlike the D.C. Bar, the State Bar of Michigan automatically suspended Clinesmith from practicing law in the state on Aug. 19, the day the court accepted his guilty plea.
However, a notice of the action was not posted on the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board website until Jan. 14. And the document does not come up under his name in the directory of all Michigan attorneys who have been the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
“That’s very strange,” a State Bar of Michigan spokeswoman said.
Still, "he is under disciplinary suspension,” she confirmed. "He is not in good standing.”
.
.
The D.C. Bar, with more than 100,000 members from across the country, did not respond to questions regarding why it hasn't started a disciplinary review. But a longstanding member of the bar suspects board members are “dragging their feet because of politics.”
“The District of Columbia is a very liberal bar,” he said. “Basically, the leaders of the bar are liberal Democrats and may want to go light on the guy because he’s also a Democrat who hated Trump.”
Last month, 25 former D.C. Bar presidents published a letter in the Washington Post attacking then-President Trump for filing “groundless” lawsuits in battleground states where poll workers had complained in sworn affidavits about witnessing voter fraud and ballot tampering in favor of Joe Biden. The bar officials, who included former Clinton ally Jamie Gorelick and close Biden confidant Mark Tuohey, claimed Trump “abuse[d] the judicial system to subvert the democratic process."
DC Fails To Disbar Anti-Trump FBI Lawyer Despite Guilty Plea | RealClearInvestigations
As the U.S. government seeks prison time for a former FBI lawyer who admitted falsifying evidence to spy on a former Trump aide, the District of Columbia Bar association hasnt begun an...
This guy pleaded guilty to a felony, and is automatically subject to being disciplined by the DC bar. 5 months, nothing happened. WTF? Anybody want to claim it wouldn't have been different if Clinesmith was a repub who altered a legal document for Trump? The guy would've been in prison by now.
Gee, he self-reported his felony and voluntarily stopped practicing law, what a guy. Probably right after he found out the DOJ was going to fry his ass anyway. The plain and simple truth is that if this kind of bullshit goes unpunished then we can expect future incidents of misconduct. If there no consequences and no penalty imposed, then there is no deterrence for future illegal acts.
