The FBI texts: Evidence of treason and ‘a coup’?

“I think what is really crucially important to remember here is that you had Strzok and Page who were in charge of launching this investigation and they were saying things like we must stop this president, we need an insurance policy against this president. That in my view when you have people that are in the highest echelons of the law enforcement of this nation saying things like that, that sounds an awful lot like a coup and it could well be treason.”

— Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” May 26, 2019

Peter Strzok was an FBI agent and Lisa Page was an FBI attorney in 2016. They were also carrying on an affair and exchanged thousands of texts. Those texts have now emerged as a central talking point for President Trump and his Republican allies to claim the investigation into ties between his campaign and Russia was a secret “coup” to thwart his election. Some of the texts reflect a deep animus toward Trump and the way he conducted himself during the 2016 campaign.

Strzok, who was fired in August, had a key role in both the investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private email server and initially the Russia probe. Page resigned from the FBI in May 2018.

James B. Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump in 2017, ridiculed the GOP argument in a recent Washington Post article. “If we were ‘deep state’ Clinton loyalists bent on stopping him, why would we keep it secret?” Comey asked.

Three Pinocchios

View the complete May 30 fact check article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.