Tipsheet

Biden Justice Department Just Hashed Out a Corrupt Deal With Lisa Page and Peter Strzok

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 26, 2024 10:00 PM

With the Democratic Party bosses successfully executing their plan to replace Joe Biden, Trump barely surviving an assassination attempt, and the entire 2024 race upended, the Biden Justice Department thought it was an opportune time to settle a with former FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. Their long-standing lawsuit involved allegations that their privacy was violated. 

In Mr. Strzok’s case, he was terminated from the FBI, and he alleges his firing was politically motivated. He hopes to get his job to obtain full retirement benefits. Given the chaos of the 2024 race right now, to paraphrase the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War, As long as the press sees 2024 chaos, Trump, and Kamala behind the left hand, “you can park a battle carrier behind the right hand and no one's gonna f**king notice” (via NYT): 

The Justice Department settled a lawsuit on Friday with two former F.B.I. officials who had accused the Trump administration of violating their privacy by sharing their texts disparaging former President Donald J. Trump with the news media, according to court documents. 

As part of the settlement, the government agreed to pay the former officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, concluding at least some of the litigation. The amount was not disclosed in court filings, but Mr. Strzok’s law firm said he received $1.2 million. 

[…] 

The agreement is likely to anger Mr. Trump, who has railed against the pair for years and leveled baseless accusations that the investigation was a “witch hunt” intended to damage his campaign. Mr. Strzok drafted the memo opening the investigation, which was approved by his superiors. 

[…] 

In 2019, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page filed separate lawsuits against the department and the F.B.I. Mr. Strzok is still suing the Justice Department on two other claims: that it violated his constitutional rights and that its subsequent decision to fire him was politically motivated. Mr. Strzok is seeking to be reinstated to his job so he can retire with full benefits. 

Mr. Strzok’s lawyer, Aitan D. Goelman, welcomed the decision, adding that he would continue to argue the remaining claims. “This outcome is a critical step forward in addressing the government’s unfair and highly politicized treatment of Pete,” he said in a statement. “As important as it is for him, it also vindicates the privacy interests of all government employees.” 

Ms. Page left the bureau in 2018; her suit against the department centered only on whether it had violated her privacy. Amy Jeffress, a lawyer for Ms. Page, also praised the outcome. “The evidence was overwhelming that the release of text messages to the press in December 2017 was for partisan political purposes and was against the law,” she said. 

The pair, who were having an extramarital affair during the 2016 election, shared tens of thousands of texts, virtually all of them anti-Trump, which embarrassed the bureau, brought forward legitimate accusations of political bias, and shattered the FBI’s then-sterling reputation as a professional investigative body whose apoliticism was its religion.  Strzok texted his then-lover in one infamous text that the bureau would “stop” Trump. There are references to the "insurance policy" against the former president, and both have been used to highlight the corruption within the FBI.

The FBI’s operation to surveil the Trump campaign—Crossfire Hurricane—was ripped apart by former counterintelligence agents at the bureau. There was and never has been evidence of Russian collusion. It was a witch hunt. Strzok should have been fired, and the FBI has evolved into a more aggressive political police force for the Democratic Party, specifically when it involves Hunter Biden.