Two anti-Trump and pro-Clinton FBI agents caught in the middle of a massive scandal regarding corruption and political bias at the nation’s leading investigative bureau allegedly used “private” devices to communicate with each other about government work while investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
In a letter, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told FBI Director Chris Wray that FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page may have used private devices while investigating Hillary Clinton for “similar” practices, Fox News reported Friday.
“It appears that Strzok and Page transmitted federal records pertaining to the Clinton investigation on private, non-government services,” Grassley wrote. “It is important to determine whether their own similar conduct was a factor in not focusing on and developing evidence of similar violations by Secretary Clinton and her aides.”
This latest revelation comes after Grassley released new text messages on Thursday between Strzok and Page, who were having an affair, that showed the two talked about using private devices to communicate about work-related matters while investigating Clinton. Fox News notes:
In an April 10, 2016 text, Strzok messaged Page to say: “Gmailed you two drafts of what I’m thinking of sending Bill, would appreciate your thoughts.”
In other messages, on June 3, Strzok told Page: “Dude. It’s all unclassified…Type on home computer and email to yourself.”
Grassley suggests that the communications could have been in reference to the Clinton investigation since both Page and Strzok were involved and the communications took place during the investigation.
“Has the FBI asked Mr. Strzok or Ms. Page to voluntarily provide any information from their personal accounts?” Grassley asked Wray. “If so, have they been cooperative? If the FBI has not asked, please explain why not.”
Other newly-revealed text messages show that Page and Strzok were interested in going easy on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because she could be the next president. The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro wrote:
Page wrote to Strzok on February 25, 2016, “One more thing: she might be our next president. The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bear. You think she’s going to remember or care that it was more doj than fbi?” The obvious implication here is that Page wanted to go easy on Clinton in order to curry favor. Strzok wrote back, “Agreed. I called [FBI counterintelligence head] Bill [Priestap] and relayed what we discussed. He agrees. I will email you and [redacted] same.”