Federal District Court Judge James Boasberg in the District of Columbia has sentenced fired FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith to probation — no sentence of incarceration — for creating a false document as part of his work with the Robert Mueller Special Counsel’s Office in preparation for obtaining a Third Extension on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant obtained on Carter Page.

Clinesmith had stated in his Sentencing Statement, and it was again argued by his attorney to Judge Boasberg, that Clinesmith actually believed the alteration he made to the email set forth the actual facts as he understood them — that Carter Page had never been a “source” of information for the CIA as Page had said publicly in April 2017 when his name was leaked to the media as a former Trump Campaign official who was under FBI and DOJ surveillance as a suspected Russian agent.

Prosecutors from Special Counsel John Durham’s office asked for a sentence of incarceration due to Clinesmith’s position of authority and responsibility as an FBI attorney who was obligated to provide accurate information, and the act of altering the email was inconsistent with that responsibility.  They argued further that by clinging to the excuse that he thought his alterations were consistent with the facts as he understood them, Clinesmith was not “accepting responsibility” for his criminal conduct as required by law to receive any leniency in his sentencing.

I’ll have a more complete analysis of what happened in the hearing later today after more information becomes known.