Over 10,000 text messages sent between two top FBI investigators - one of whom led both the Clinton email investigation and the early Trump-Russia probe, have been turned over to Congress Tuesday evening and promptly leaked to the press. The profanity-laced messages reveal a deep hatred for Trump between veteran agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page, who were having an extramarital affair while working together on the Clinton email investigation when the texts were exchanged. Strzok and Page were fired from Robert Mueller's special counsel in mid-August over the messages, yet the reason was not revealed until last month. Strzok notably changed the wording of then-FBI Director James Comey's statement on Clinton's mishandling of classified information from "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless."
Peter Strzok and Lisa Page
The leaked texts leave no doubt that Muller's probe has been tainted from the beginning. In one exchange obtained by Fox News sent on March 4th, 2016 - right around the time Trump emerged as a serious threat in the GOP primary race, Page texted Strzok "God, Trump is a loathsome human," to which Strzok responded "Yet he many[win]" Strzok responded, adding "Good for Hillary."
Later that day, Strzok texted Page, "OMG [Trump's] an idiot" to which Page replied "He's awful." Strzok then texted Page "America will get what the voting public deserves," to which Page responded "That's what I'm afraid of."
In messages obtained by CBS, Page wrote to Strzok "I just saw my first Bernie Sander [sic] bumper sticker. Made me want to key the car," to which Strzok replied "He's an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out."
On election night, Strzok called the glowing red map showing Mr. Trump winning "F***ing terrifying." A week later when Jeff Sessions was the top contender for Attorney General, Strzok texted Page "Sesions for AG," to which Page replied "Good god." Page and Strzok also disparaged House Speaker Paul Ryan, with Page telling Strzok she hopes Ryan "fails and crashes in a blaze of glory."
Fox reporter Shannon Brem tweeted that Fox News producer Jake Gibson has obtained 10k texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, one of which says "Trump should go f himself," and "F TRUMP."
Our @FoxNews producer @JakeBGibson has obtained 10K texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) December 13, 2017
Strzok/Page texts obtained by Fox's @JakeBGibson
"LP – Jesus. You should read this. And Trump should go f himself. Moment in Convention Glare Shakes Up Khans American Life https://t.co/1nZ11E3gBC
PS – God that’s a great article. Thanks for sharing. And F TRUMP."
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) December 13, 2017
In another tweet posted by Bream, Peter Strzok says "I am riled up. Trump is a f*cking idiot, is unable to provide a coherrent answer," and "I CAN'T PULL AWAY, WHAY THE F*CK HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY (redacted)??!?!"
Page responds "I don't know, But we'll get it back. ..."
Strzok/Page texts 10/20/16
PS - I am riled up. Trump is a f*cking idiot, is unable to provide a coherent answer.
PS - I CAN'T PULL AWAY, WHAT THE F*CK HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY (redacted)??!?!
LP - I don't know. But we'll get it back. ...
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) December 13, 2017
Page then messages Strzok, saying "And maybe you're meant to stay where you are because you're meant to protect the country from that menace. (links to NYT article), to which Strzok replied "I can protect our country at many levels."
Strzok/Page texts
LP – And maybe you’re meant to stay where you are because you’re meant to protect the country from that menace. (links to NYT article)
PS – ... I can protect our country at many levels, not sure if that helps
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) December 13, 2017
If you're still confused as to who they wanted to win the election, look no further than Peter Strzok's text to Page: "God Hillary should win. 100,000,000-0"
Strzok/Page texts obtained by @JakeBGibson - "PS: God Hillary should win. 100,000,000-0. LP: I know"
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) December 13, 2017
The messages between Strzok and Page make it abundantly clear that the agents investigating both candidates for President were extremely biased against then-candidate Trump, while going extremely easy on Hillary Clinton over her mishandling of classified information.
MORE: Timeline of texts from former Special Counsel investigator Peter Strzok may raise concerns about his impartiality and will likely raise more questions about the Clinton server investigation, @PaulaReidCBS says
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 13, 2017
The messages sent between Strzok and Page, as well as Strzok's conduct in the Clinton investigation and several prior cases are now under review for political bias by the Justice Department. Furthermore, the fact that the reason behind Strzok's firing was kept a secret for months is of keen interest to House investigators. According to Fox News two weeks ago:
"While Strzok’s removal from the Mueller team had been publicly reported in August, the Justice Department never disclosed the anti-Trump texts to the House investigators."
"Responding to the revelations about Strzok’s texts on Saturday, Nunes said he has now directed his staff to draft contempt-of-Congress citations against Rosenstein and the new FBI director, Christopher Wray." -Fox News
Strzok also relied on the Trump-Russia dossier created by opposition research firm Fusion GPS. In August, 2016 - nine months before Robert Mueller's Special Counsel was launched, the New York Times reported that Strzok was hand picked by FBI brass to supervise an investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion. The FBI investigation grew legs after they received the infamous anti-Trump "dossier" and decided to act on its salacious and largely unproven claims, According to Fox News:
House investigators told Fox News they have long regarded Strzok as a key figure in the chain of events when the bureau, in 2016, received the infamous anti-Trump "dossier" and launched a counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the election that ultimately came to encompass FISA surveillance of a Trump campaign associate.
The "dossier" was a compendium of salacious and largely unverified allegations about then-candidate Trump and others around him that was compiled by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The firm's bank records, obtained by House investigators, revealed that the project was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. -Fox News
Weeks before the 2016 election, Peter Strzok's FBI team agreed to pay former MI6 agent and Fusion GPS operative Christopher Steele $50,000 if he could verify the claims contained within the dossier - which relied on the cooperation of two senior Kremlin officials.
Vannity Fair
When Steele was unable to verify the claims in the dossier, the FBI wouldn't pay him according to the New York Times.
Mr. Steele met his F.B.I. contact in Rome in early October, bringing a stack of new intelligence reports. One, dated Sept. 14, said that Mr. Putin was facing “fallout” over his apparent involvement in the D.N.C. hack and was receiving “conflicting advice” on what to do.
The agent said that, if Mr. Steele could get solid corroboration of his reports, the F.B.I. would pay him $50,000 for his efforts, according to two people familiar with the offer. Ultimately, he was not paid. -NYT
Did you catch that? Despite the fact that Steele was not paid by the FBI for the dossier, Peter Strzok used it to launch a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump's team. Steele was ultimately paid $168,000 by Fusion GPS to assemble the dossier.
There's more - according to journalist Sara Carter there are more anti-Trump messages exchanged between other members of Mueller's team:
Sean Hannity: I’m hearing rumors all over the place Sara Carter that there are other anti-Trump text-emails out there. And we know about them.
Sara Carter: I think you’re hearing correctly Sean and I think a lot more is going to come out. In fact, I know a lot more is going to come out based on the sources I’ve spoken to.
The clip is below:
The text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are highly compromising, and prove that both FBI investigations into Clinton and Trump were headed by a man, aided by his mistress, who did not want to see Trump win the White House. Furthermnore, if anti-Trump text messages were exchanged between other members of Robert Mueller's special counsel, which are apparently on deck for later this month or January, it's hard to imagine anyone taking anything concluded by this dog-and-pony show seriously.