An FBI lawyer who was dismissed from the special counsel investigation into Russian collusion has been hired as a legal and national security analyst for MSNBC.
Lisa Page, whose anti-Trump texts with fired FBI agent Peter Strzok got her removed from Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election, was announced as MSNBC’s latest hire Friday evening.
“JUST ANNOUNCED: @MSNBC welcomes Former FBI Lawyer @NatSecLisa as an NBC News & MSNBC National Security & Legal Analyst,” the channel’s public relations account tweeted.
As Mueller investigated the Trump campaign (he ultimately discovered no evidence of collusion, despite years of media headlines claiming the opposite), text messages between Strzok and Page became public in a June 2018 Inspector General’s report. The two employees were having an affair (Page is married) and sent each other texts expressing anti-Trump sentiments in early August 2016 – ahead of the election. At one point, Page asked Strzok if Trump would become president. Strzok responded: “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.” The pair also discussed an “insurance policy” for if Trump were to win the election.
Following the release of the text messages, Page resigned from the FBI. Strzok was removed from Mueller’s investigation.
In December 2019, Page sued the Department of Justice and the FBI after Trump mocked her texts with Strzok at a campaign rally. Page claimed Trump made “fake orgasm” noises when he mocked her (he used a breathy voice, but did not make a “fake orgasm” noise), and portrayed herself as a victim, The Daily Wire previously reported.
In her lawsuit, Page claimed the DOJ and FBI violated the Privacy Act by disclosing her text messages.
“The Privacy Act was enacted to protect individual privacy interests,” the complaint read. “Agency records can, and often do, contain highly sensitive personal information, including documentation of criminal history, medical records, financial transactions, personnel actions, private conversations, personal contacts, and other sensitive material. As relevant here, the statute bars the DOJ, the FBI, and other federal agencies from disclosing a covered record ‘about’ an individual unless an exception applies or the individual who is the subject of the record consents in writing to the disclosure. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a. The statute contains no general exception permitting an agency to disclose covered records to the media.”
As The Federalist reported, “MSNBC commentators have defended both Page and Strzok over the years by dismissing their text messages as merely personal criticisms, separate from their FBI work.”
Page is also not the only disgraced intelligence community official to get rewarded with a television contract. Former Director of the CIA, John Brennan, received a national security and intelligence analyst gig at NBC News and MSNBC. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was found to have lied to the bureau, received a contract with CNN as an analyst. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also received a CNN contract.
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