Tipsheet

Investigative Reporter: Why Are Strzok And Page Still At The FBI? Also, Did Someone Delete Their Texts?

Sara Carter, formerly of Circa News, dropped by Fox And Friends Tuesday morning to discuss the latest batch of FBI texts between FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page. The two sent tens of thousands of texts, riddled with anti-Trump swipes and praise for Hillary Clinton. It’s clear that these two did not want Donald Trump to be president. The exchanges initially raised eyebrows over an August 15, 2016 text, where Strzok mentioned an “insurance policy” after a meeting with Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Keep in mind; this is the man who signed off on the bureau’s counterintelligence probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians a month earlier. Is this in reference to the Trump dossier? Some say it could be, which is also alleged to have been the basis to secure FISA warrants against members of the Trump campaign. Now, we have a new and rather cryptic text from Lisa Page sent to Strzok the day after the 2016 election, where she mentions a secret society. Is it a joke? Maybe. Does it absolve them of their incredibly unethical and unprofessional behavior that’s put the credibility of the FBI on the line? No. These people were responsible for investigating with objectivity. Strzok was involved in the Russian collusion and Hillary email fiasco, and believe me—there’s some glaring discrepancies on that one. 

Also, we had to grapple for a few days with the development that five months worth of texts between Strzok and Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, were missing. As Katie wrote today, they’ve been recovered

Yet, Carter also had another good question: what the hell are these two still doing working at the FBI? Strzok was transferred to the human resources division upon his departure from the Russia probe once Special Counsel Robert Mueller found out about the texts last summer. 

Also, concerning the missing Strzok-Page texts, Carter mentioned that her sources at DOJ and the congressional committees gave her two different stories. One is that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz may have grabbed them early on, and if that’s the case, someone deleted them after, pointing to possible obstruction of justice. If not, Carter said, as Katie mentioned, a team would be able to recover them. The next day, Wednesday, there were reports that a glitch impacted multiple phones used by the FBI, which was the cause of the missing texts. But as Allahpundit noted, some clarification is needed because this is all very convenient

In a glitch that impacted around 10 percent of FBI employees that wiped messages, both Sztrok and Page happen to fall into that impacted group, after the secret society text was sent, and end miraculously on the day Mueller was appointed special counsel. And a day after the glitch story is made public; the DOJ inspector general says he’s found the missing texts. Did Horowitz have them the entire time? 

The other aspect Page noted was why are these “lovebirds” still working at the FBI, given that both of them are now easy targets for blackmail (via RCP):


I'm concerned that they're still working at the FBI," Carter said. "I'm hearing from my sources, too. FBI agents are saying, 'Why are they still there?'"

"The Lovebirds. They were having an affair, they were both married, they’re working counter-intelligence. That’s enough for blackmail," Carter said. "Now they’re sending text messages on an unsecured phone. Believe me, the Germans, the Russians, the Israelis, everybody is going into those phones and trying to suck out all the information they have."

Well, while that’s a good question, let’s first comb through the texts that were recovered. We’ll keep you updated on that as well.