Chuck Ross
Investigative Reporter
August 15, 2020 12:43 PM ET
CNN and MSNBC devoted little coverage Friday and Saturday to the first development in U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer, is expected to plead guilty to altering an email regarding former Trump aide Carter Page’s past association with the CIA.
CNN and MSNBC employ at least three former FBI and CIA officials as analysts, though none appeared on air to discuss the Clinesmith case.
MSNBC host Chuck Todd questioned whether the Durham probe was aimed at “creating confusion.â€
CNN and MSNBC largely ignored the news Friday that a former FBI lawyer will plead guilty to altering an email related to Carter Page, the former Trump campaign aide.
Neither network mentioned the case against the former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, in their primetime broadcasts, according to a review conducted by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The networks had brief segments during the daytime broadcasts that reported the news that Clinesmith would plead guilty to making false statements by altering an email that downplayed Page’s past work for the CIA.
Page had been an operational contact for the CIA through at least 2013 and provided information about his interactions with a Russian intelligence officer. Clinesmith, 38, added a line to a CIA liaison’s email in June 2017 that said that Page was “not a ‘source'†for the spy agency, according to the charging documents.
The case is the first major development in an investigation led by U.S. Attorney John Durham into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
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https://dailycaller.com/2020/08/15/cnn-msnbc-kevin-clinesmith-john-durham/
