Famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Sunday text messages exchanged between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that discussed stopping then-candidate Donald Trump being elected president sends a dangerous message to the public about the bureau.
“FBI agents are allowed to be biased. They’re allowed to support political candidates. That’s part of the law,” Dershowitz said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“Where I draw the line is when an FBI agent says, ‘We’ll stop him.’ That’s not an expression of bias. That’s not saying who you’re going to vote for. That sends a message to the American people that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is going to interfere in an election in an effort to try to stop the election of one candidate rather than the other,” he continued.
.@AlanDersh: “Where I draw the line is when an FBI agent says: ‘We’ll stop him.'” #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/3DSZdDFYyq
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 17, 2018
The latest text exchange revelation came in a highly-anticipated report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released Thursday that detailed the watchdog’s investigation into the FBI’s handling of its Hillary Clinton probe during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report found former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” and “affirmatively concealed” his investigation from Justice Department leadership during the probe into Clinton’s private emails.
“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page wrote to Strzok, with whom she was having an extramarital affair, in August 2016.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok replied.
Dershowitz also questioned why Strzok, who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team conducting the Russia investigation in 2017, still has a job with the FBI. Page resigned on May 4.
“You’re not allowed to try to use your office to stop somebody from being elected president of the United States,” Dershowitz added.
