FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who is also an attorney, shared words that were meant to be private. Now, this couple’s texts have become fodder for Donald Trump’s talking heads, with Kellyanne Conway out in front of the cameras is trying to take those texts and twist them into a crime.
The two texted during the time the FBI was investigating the former presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Conway told Fox & Friends about the two intelligence employees, who were having a romantic relationship:
‘It is very concerning to see two people sexting each other about this investigation. I mean texting each other about this investigation, on and on.’
The counselor to the current president, Conway, claimed that the FBI investigator just released a new batch of texts. She inaccurately noted that those showed the couple revealed President Barack Obama told them that he wanted to “know everything we’re doing.” Conway continued:
‘People are going to have to square there where the truth is. Now you see it goes all the way to the top, according to them, anyway.’
The president’s spokesperson told Fox & Friends that current news events are “unbelievable.” She was referring to the FBIÂ activities and the infamous dossier that British spy Christopher Steele prepared that alleged that Donald Trump had connections to Moscow:
‘This president has great respect for the rank and file in the FBI. We don’t like what we see coming out of a few bad apples.’
According to The Wall Street Journal, Strzok was assigned to the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Once the couple’s relationship and the texts criticizing Trump became known, Mueller removed and reassigned him. Page had already moved on to another position.
‘Mr. Strzok, who is considered one of the FBI’s most experienced counterintelligence agents, was reassigned to a supervisory job in the bureau’s human resources division after Mr. Mueller learned about the inquiry into the text messages.’
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote, according to The Atlantic:
‘People who work in law enforcement tend to be engaged citizens, well-informed about current events. Many of them are passionate in their political conviction. But they get checked at the courthouse door, even in political-corruption cases. Law enforcement is a straightforward exercise: Figure out what the facts and law are, then apply the latter to the former.’
In the texts, Strzok and Page joked about Trump. When, the texts surfaced, 45 tweeted an accusation that the FBI’s “reputation is in tatters.”
The president appointed FBI Director Chris Wray after he fired the former FBI director, James Comey, in an attempt to squelch the investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign. On Sean Hannity’s show, Fox News’ legal analyst Gregg Jarrett claimed that Mueller was making a political tool out of the FBI. The Atlantic reported Jarrett said:
‘Just like the old KGB.’
Hannity then responded:
‘This is not hyperbole.’
Actually though, it was hyperbole. Mueller’s spokesperson said the special counsel moved Strzok immediately after realizing the texts’ contents. Conversely, after Trump realized the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had been compromised, he kept him on for over two weeks.
Featured Image via Getty Images/Mark Wilson.
