Former Rep. Trey Gowdy said Thursday the most important information that came out of former FBI agent Peter Strzok’s private testimony to Congress last year was about the “insurance policy” mentioned in a text message to Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer with whom Strzok was having an affair.
Strzok testified that the mid-August 2016 text was part of a larger conversation about protecting an “extremely sensitive source” as he and Page considered how far to lean into the counterintelligence investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia, as they didn’t think Trump had a very good chance of beating Hillary Clinton in the election.
Gowdy, one of the Republicans who received Strzok’s testimony and was concerned that the “insurance policy” had to do with a plan to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, doubts such a source ever existed.
“There is no information because there is nothing. There is no source,” Gowdy said during an appearance on Fox News, where he is a contributor.
Text messages between Strzok and Page, in which they displayed a negative opinion of Trump, were uncovered over the course of the Justice Department’s inspector general investigation into the DOJ and FBI’s conduct during the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized private email server, which she used while serving as secretary of state.
The text Strzok sent to Page on Aug. 15, 2016, read: “I want to believe the path you threw out in [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s] office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take the risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Both Strzok and Page were grilled about it during testimony to a joint congressional task force looking into potential bias within the Justice Department and FBI.
Page admitted the texts were referring to the Russia investigation but said it was a “continuing check-in” to decide how quickly to proceed with the investigation based on the outcome of the election. “[W]e don’t need to go at a total breakneck speed because so long as he doesn’t become president, there isn’t the same threat to national security, right?” Page said.
“But if he becomes President, that totally changes the game because now he is the President of the United States,” Page continued. “He’s going to immediately start receiving classified briefings. He’s going to be exposed to the most sensitive secrets imaginable. And if there is somebody on his team who wittingly or unwittingly is working with the Russians, that is super serious.”
Reacting to Page’s testimony, revealed earlier this week, were Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and President Trump.
“This deserves more attention!” Paul tweeted. “FBI Mistress, Lisa Page, confirmed to House Judiciary, there was an anti-Trump Insurance Policy and it’s the fake Russian investigation! She admits there was almost no evidence on collusion, yet they continued with WITCH HUNT!”
Trump added: “I agree with Rand Paul. This is a total disgrace and should NEVER happen to another President!”
