Two infamous FBI officials who had a special hatred for former President Trump have reached a tentative settlement with the DOJ concerning alleged privacy violations because their text messages were leaked.
The media got a hold of the salacious messages from former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page and made hay with them. Strzok was eventually forced out and Page resigned over the incident. The two reportedly had an affair.
The tentative deal did not reveal any of the terms of the agreement. It came to light in a brief court filing on Tuesday.
“Peter Strzok, a former top FBI counterintelligence agent who helped lead the bureau’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was fired in 2018 after the anti-Trump text messages came to light. Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, voluntarily resigned that same year,” NBC News reported.
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They alleged in federal lawsuits filed in the District of Columbia that the Justice Department infringed on their privacy rights when officials, in December 2017, shared copies of their communication with reporters — including messages that described Trump as an “idiot” and a ”loathsome human” and that called the prospect of a Trump victory “terrifying.”
Strzok also sued the department over his termination, alleging that the FBI caved to “unrelenting pressure” from Trump when it fired him and that his First Amendment rights were violated. Those constitutional claims have not been resolved by the tentative settlement, according to the court notice.
Trump was questioned under oath last year as part of the litigation, according to NBC News.
The text messages between the lovebirds were discovered by the Justice Department inspector general’s office as part of it probe of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Is this what Democrats call justice?
And the American people get to pay this tab to these two criminals?
How many millions are Strzok & his lover Page settling for?
Just when you think the DOJ can’t get any worse. @dojphofficial https://t.co/zCAml7PyCI
— Bronco/CHK (@Claudred) May 29, 2024
“Strzok was a lead agent in that probe as well, and he notes in his lawsuit that the inspector general found no evidence that political bias tainted the email investigation. Even so, the text messages resulted in Strzok being removed from the special counsel team conducting the Trump-Russia investigation and helped drive criticism by Trump that the inquiry was a politically motivated ‘witch hunt,’” NBC News noted.
The drawn-out five-year-old case initiated by Page predictably ended with the FBI officials skating. Adding insult to injury, Strzok got his job back.
Despite the inspector general admitting the investigation was flawed, for some reason, no evidence of bias was found and everything was neatly swept under the rug.
“Until now, the Justice Department has denied liability and fought the claims in both suits. Efforts to resolve the cases through mediation have been underway for at least six months,” Politico reported.
FBI reaches tentative agreement on Privacy Act claims with Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.
I think it was 4 years ago someone told me Strzok and Page had a solid claim. pic.twitter.com/O5i9Fqmxxp
— emptywheel (synonym: foil) (@emptywheel) May 28, 2024
NBC News said attorneys representing Strzok and Page declined to comment Tuesday night, as did a spokesman for the DOJ. The department has previously said that it was permissible to share the text messages that were also disclosed to Congress.”
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Author: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
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