After Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters this week that he and his department would do anything in their power to locate the missing text messages sent between Peter Strzok and his mistress Lisa Page, The Department of Justice (DOJ) has found them. According to a Fox News report, Inspector General Michael Horowitz sent a letter to Congress on Thursday claiming the department has located this missing messages. Questions are now being raised that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump may be compromised.
The tale of the missing texts comes after over 50,000 text messages were reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee and Republicans John Ratcliffe (TX-4) and Trey Gowdy (SC-4). According to an initial review, a “secret society” involving officials from the DOJ and FBI have been working against the Trump Administration throughout the president’s first year in office.
The inspector general recovered the missing texts by collecting “at least four” mobile devices belonging to both Strzok and Page, both of whom have been working on the Mueller investigation of President Donald Trump. The tandem is now under scrutiny after it was revealed that former members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team exchanged a series of anti-Trump texts during the presidential campaign. The texts are said to have taken place throughout a romantic affair between the agents and the gap in text records covered a crucial period in time during Trump’s campaign.
On Wednesday, officials from the DOJ told reporters that thousands of FBI cellphones were subject to a technical glitch that hindered the former missing messages to be uploaded onto the agency’s servers. After they were located, Horowitz informed Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who had inquired about the messages earlier this week.
The five months of messages covers a critical period of events in Washington. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was fired following his correspondence with Russian diplomats. The controversial anti-Trump dossier was published. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate President Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russians during the election. FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Trump.
Many Republicans in congress have argued that FBI officials have a clear bias against Trump and his administration. On Monday, Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe (TX-4) told Fox News, “We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of [Trump’s] election, that there may have been a secret society of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI — to include Page and Strzok — that would be working against him.”
During the investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, one message was found from Strzok that inferred an “insurance policy” against a victory for then-candidate Donald-Trump. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40…” he reportedly wrote.
House Oversight Committee member Republican Congressman Jim Jordan (OH-4) has requested to officials that a second special counsel should be appointed to investigate Mueller. The lawmaker claims the revelation caused by the text messages indicate that the current investigation has been compromised.