Ever been fishing? A fisherman needs bait in order to be successful. Oftentimes that entails catching a little fish and putting it on the hook. The fisherman uses one fish in order to catch another. The same concept is in play when conducting a criminal investigation into a conspiracy.

Kevin Clinesmith is a former FBI attorney. He falsified memos and inserted false information into a FISA warrant. For a democrat this is all in a days work. To anybody else, it is called a felony. Clinesmith has agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement (Title 18 U.S.C. Sec 1001 (a)(3)). His efforts were part of the democrat attempt to overthrow the President, called Russiagate. He is the first one to be charged.

Cynics are decrying the fact that, Clinesmith is a relatively small fish. I call that bait. You want classy there is this:

Let me establish a base line. I used to conduct conspiracy investigations centered on the drug trade. I used Federal conspiracy law to take me where I wanted to go. I used to tell crooks that if they ever had an impure thought and shared it with a friend, then they were guilty of a conspiracy. That may have been a little flippant, but here is what the law actually says.

18 U.S. Code § 371.Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

There are nuances not openly addressed in that paragraph, but apply never the less. For instance:

• Not all members of the conspiracy need be known to one another.
• Not all members of the conspiracy have to know and approve of what actions other members take.
• A member that performs a legal act that advances the conspiracy is liable for the illegal goal of the conspiracy.
• In order to remove oneself from a conspiracy an individual must perform an affirmative act to remove themselves.
• A member of a conspiracy is responsible for all crimes committed during the conspiracy, if they could be reasonably foreseen.

For instance “A”, “B”, and “C” agree to commit a crime. “C” recruits “D” to assist in the criminal activity. “D” is unknown to “A” and “B”. “D” is unaware of “A” and “B”. “D” performs a legal service for “C”. This service advances the criminal scheme. “A”, “B”, and “C” carry out their scheme. However, the plan goes awry and in addition to the original crime, they commit an additional offense. “D” was aware of the intended crime but not the new crime. “D” is just as culpable for the new crime as “A”,”B”, and “C” if the new crime was a reasonably foreseen consequence of the original crime.

One of my more successful conspiracy investigations began with one $20 crack rock. On top of that the seizure and arrest of the suspect was more accidental than intentional.

The suspect was an ex-con. He didn’t want to go back to prison and volunteered to work his case off. What this means is that he would provide information and act under law enforcement direction to make additional cases on other crooks. This guy had impeccable crook credentials and knew most of the gangbanger leadership and major crack dealers. We took him up on his offer.

By the time he was done, he had made cases on members of three different crack cocaine distribution organizations. When the dust finally settled and the last crook entered a plea we had arrested fifty-four defendants. Everybody went to prison. One leader organizer admitted to distributing a 1000 kilos of crack cocaine.

These guys were hardened street criminals most of whom had already been to prison at least once. Of the fifty-four defendants only three refused to cooperate with the government. The rest admitted to the activities and provided information regarding their knowledge of the drug trade.

Take another look at Clinesmith. Do you really think that the pasty-faced white boy is going to stand up? The beauty is, he is a bureaucrat and an attorney. This means that backstabbing, memos for file, saved e-mails and surreptitiously recorded conversations are an almost mandatory part of his world.

I’m toying with the idea starting a “GOFUNDME” account with a view towards buying Clinesmith an assortment of bath products for use at whatever Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) he winds up in. What do you think?