FBI agents conveyed support for President Trump and contempt for Hillary Clinton in messages after the 2016 election, the Justice Department watchdog found.
Trump has relentlessly attacked former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI special agent Peter Strzok for politically charged text messages sent before and after his election, revealed in a 2018 investigation conducted by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
In Horowitz’s latest assessment about the FBI’s applications to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the inspector general found a different kind of bias.
“If you hear talk of a special prosecutor … I will volunteer to work [on] the Clinton Foundation,” a supervising agent wrote the day after Trump won, also comparing Trump’s election to “watching a Superbowl comeback.”
The supervising agent explained to Horowitz that he expected Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to win, “but as the returns [came] in … it was just energizing to me to see … [because] I didn’t want a criminal to be in the White House.”
Two other agents also discussed the results of the election.
“Trump!” the first agent wrote.
“Hahaha. Shit just got real,” the second agent replied.
“Yes it did,” the first agent said.
“I saw a lot of scared MFers on … [my way to work] this morning. Start looking for new jobs fellas. Haha,” the second agent said.
“LOL,” the first responded.
In his report, released on Monday, Horowitz found the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s team was properly authorized and that there was no political bias influencing the investigation, but he also determined the bureau made “at least 17 significant errors or omissions” in the applications spanning from October 2016 to the summer of 2017.
Attorney General William Barr claimed the report shows the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was conducted in an inappropriate manner given the evidence the bureau had on hand. “The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said in a statement.
