Mr. Horowitz’s findings that Mr. Clinesmith doctored the email looked especially bad because Mr. Clinesmith was also among several F.B.I. officials whom Mr. Mueller removed from the Trump-Russia investigation after Mr. Horowitz found text messages in which they expressed political animus against Mr. Trump. The applications recounted Mr. Page’s long history of interacting with Russian intelligence officials, even after he learned he had been the target of an apparent recruitment effort in 2013. Page from 2008 to 2013 to be an “operational contact,” someone whom the spy agency can debrief but not assign to gather information. Such documents are subject to special restrictions for security reasons, and it is not clear who saw it; although Mr. Clinesmith was entitled to look at it, he said he did not.

Source: New York Times August 19, 2020 21:11 UTC