HBO host Bill Maher said anti-Trump messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were both involved in an extramarital affair, about preventing then-candidate Trump from being elected president was an effort for Strzok to “impress” Page.
“He was trying to impress the girl he was fucking! That’s all it was!” Maher said on Friday’s broadcast of “Real Time.” “She is saying, ‘Oh my God! Is Trump going to be president?’ He says, ‘No, I’m Captain Save-A-Hoe… and I will stop it, baby!’”
In the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General report that detailed misconduct of how the FBI managed its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Page expressed concerns that Trump would be elected president. But Strzok shut down her fears by saying “we’ll stop it.”
“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page wrote to Strzok.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok replied.
The newly reported text messages have solicited outrage from some on the right. For example, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., questioned why Congress was just learning of the text message and why Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein attempted to conceal the message.
“Peter Strzok should not have a job anywhere near our Justice Department,” Meadows said.
It was revealed last year that Strzok and Page, who both worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, had an affair and exchanged text messages critical of Trump. Strzok was removed from the Mueller investigation last year and Page resigned from her post last month.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a letter to Congress prior to the report’s release that the texts between Strzok and Page negatively impacted the FBI’s standing by signaling there was bias within the agency, but Horowitz ultimately determined that the scandal didn’t impact Mueller’s probe.
The report additionally determined that former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” and “affirmatively concealed” his intentions regarding the investigation on Clinton’s emails.
But, the report also concluded that though at times improper behavior was exhibited from the FBI, the actions did not alter the results of the Clinton investigation.
