An FBI official booted from the Russia investigation over anti-Trump texts exchanged more than 50,000 messages with an FBI lawyer
- Peter Strzok, the FBI official ousted from the Russia probe, exchanged more than 50,000 text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page during and after the 2016 election.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions made that announcement on Monday after it was revealed that the FBI failed to preserve five months worth of text messages between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
- Strzok, who played critical roles in both the Clinton email probe and the Russia investigation, and Page have been vilified for being critical of Donald Trump in their text messages during and after the 2016 election.
- Strzok has since been removed from the Russia probe, but Trump allies in Congress and in the media have sought to frame the controversy as evidence that the Russia probe is politically biased against Trump.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday that Peter Strzok, the FBI official ousted from the Russia probe over anti-Trump text messages he exchanged with FBI lawyer Lisa Page had exchanged text messages with Page more than 50,000 times.
Sessions said in a statement provided to Fox News that the matter is being investigated in light of earlier revelations that the FBI failed to preserve five months worth of text messages shared between Strzok and Page.
"We will leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are now not available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source," Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia investigation, said on Monday.
Strzok and Page have been the focus of fierce condemnation from Trump's allies in Congress and in the media, who have sought to frame the Russia investigation as politically biased against the president.
The matter has prompted calls for a second special counsel to investigate potential bias against Trump among the prosecutors participating in the probe of Russia's US-election interference being led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mueller, who is a registered Republican, was quick to remove Strzok from the Russia investigation, but has nonetheless faced blistering rebukes from Trump's allies, many of whom have, at turns, called for Mueller's firing and floated the idea of purging the FBI of agents suspected of opposing Trump.