Sen. Lindsey Graham opened a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the origins of the Russia investigation by reading texts between former FBI officials line-by-line.
“These are two central figures in this debacle,” Graham said. “Let me tell you a little bit about who these people are and where they’re coming from.”
The South Carolina Republican read a litany of texts spanning months between former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and ex-agent Peter Strzok depicting their disapproval of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and concerns that he might win the 2016 election.
“March 3rd, 2016, Page: ‘God, Trump is a loathsome human,'” Graham read. “Strzok: ‘Oh, my God, he’s an idiot.'”
Republicans and defenders of the president have focused on communications between Page and Strzok to further the narrative that a “deep state” was out to get Trump and sought to undermine his campaign for president.
The theory was bolstered slightly when DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who testified before the committee Wednesday, found more than a dozen examples of information top law enforcement officials failed to share or misrepresented with a federal court when seeking a warrant to surveil a Trump campaign adviser as part of the investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s team and Russia.
However, Horowitz also concluded that no political bias against Trump motivated the effort, dealing a blow to Republican talking points on the scandal.
Graham and other members of Congress have said the Horowitz report is “only the beginning” of the story about how special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation began. Separately, Attorney General William Barr has commissioned federal prosecutor John Durham to conduct his own investigation into whether any laws were broken by top FBI officials who relied on unverified information to apply for federal warrants to conduct surveillance of Trump’s campaign.
Trump has depicted the Mueller investigation and those who triggered it as “Never Trumpers” who are unfairly engaging in “presidential harassment.”
“July 19th, 2016: ‘Trump is a disaster,'” Graham read from a transcript of one text exchange. “‘I have no idea how destabilizing his presidency would be.'”
He responded to the text, saying, “You’re entitled to believe [Trump should not be president]. But you should not be an investigator.”
[Read more: Lindsey Graham says FISA court existence at risk without ‘fundamental reform’]
