New Strzok-Page messages reveal the FBI’s pressure to hurry up and investigate the Trump campaign. Many could argue their political bias did indeed have an impact on the Trump-Russia’ collusion investigation.
Investigative journalist, John Solomon reported on Friday new docs the FBI gave to the Inspector General, and which were previously withheld from the public, show internal FBI communications that are very “troubling” and “damning.”
We already know the FBI lovebirds, Strzok and Page, sent many profane text messages to each other, disparaging Trump.
In one very damning text message, Peter Strzok said “We’ll stop” Trump from becoming President.
New internal communications show the FBI scrambling in the Fall of 2016 to accelerate the Trump-Russia probe, shortly before and after Trump won the election.
Via John Solomon of The Hill:
Memos the FBI is now producing to the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general and multiple Senate and House committees offer what sources involved in the production, review or investigation describe to me as “damning” or “troubling” evidence.
They show Strzok and his counterintelligence team rushing in the fall of 2016 to find “derogatory” information from informants or a “pretext” to accelerate the probe and get a surveillance warrant on figures tied to the future president.
One of those figures was Carter Page, an academic and an energy consultant from New York; he was briefly a volunteer foreign policy adviser for the GOP nominee’s campaign and visited Moscow the summer before the election.
The memos show Strzok, Lisa Page and others in counterintelligence monitored news articles in September 2016 that quoted a law enforcement source as saying the FBI was investigating Carter Page’s travel to Moscow.
The FBI team pounced on what it saw as an opportunity as soon as Page wrote a letter to then-FBI Director James Comey complaining about the “completely false” leak.
“At a minimum, the letter provides us a pretext to interview,” Strzok wrote to Lisa Page on Sept. 26, 2016.
Within weeks, that “pretext” — often a synonym for an excuse — had been upsized to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant, giving the FBI the ability to use some of its most awesome powers to monitor Carter Page and his activities.
The FBI obtained a FISA warrant and THREE renewals on Carter Page…yet they have produced zero evidence he committed a crime.
Other messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok reveal they were desperate to persuade a high-ranking DOJ official to sign off on the FISA warrant.
Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein eventually signed off on the FISA applications.
Via John Solomon:
In one email exchange with the subject line “Crossfire FISA,” Strzok and Lisa Page discussed talking points to get then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to persuade a high-ranking DOJ official to sign off on the warrant.
“Crossfire Hurricane” was one of the code names for four separate investigations the FBI conducted related to Russia matters in the 2016 election.
“At a minimum, that keeps the hurry the F up pressure on him,” Strzok emailed Page on Oct. 14, 2016, less than four weeks before Election Day.
Four days later the same team was emailing about rushing to get approval for another FISA warrant for another Russia-related investigation code-named “Dragon.”
“Still an expedite?” one of the emails beckoned, as the FBI tried to meet the requirements of a process known as a Woods review before a FISA warrant can be approved by the courts.
“Any idea what time he can have it woods-ed by?” Strzok asked Page. “I know it’s not going to matter because DOJ is going to take the time DOJ wants to take. I just don’t want this waiting on us at all.”
It gets worse…
The day after Donald Trump won the election, the FBI went into overdrive to “scrub” all people in Trump’s transition team.
“We need ALL of their names to scrub, and we should give them ours for the same purpose,” Strzok emailed Page on Nov. 10, 2016, citing a Daily Beast article about some of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s allegedly unsavory ties overseas.
“Andy didn’t get any others,” Page wrote back, apparently indicating McCabe didn’t have names to add to the “scrub.”
“That’s what Bill said,” Strzok wrote back, apparently referring to then-FBI chief of counterintelligence William Priestap. “I suggested we need to exchange our entire lists as we each have potential derogatory CI info the other doesn’t.” CI is short for confidential informants.
Peter Strzok is set to testify at a public Congressional hearing next week.
Both Strzok and Page have been called to testify by House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA).
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He is The Hill’s executive vice president for video.
