House Republican, without evidence, suggests new texts show misconduct of former FBI officials

Washington CNN — One of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress is alleging misconduct by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, an unproven and disputed assertion that the President amplified Tuesday morning, the 17th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. At issue are claims made by Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who said on Monday that newly-discovered text messages between Strzok and Page discussing a “media leak strategy with DOJ” suggest a “coordinated effort” by the FBI and the Justice Department to “release information in the public domain potentially harmful to President Donald Trump’s administration.” Special counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from his team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election last summer after an internal investigation uncovered a trove of private text messages with Page showing their contempt for Trump. CNN has not obtained a full record of the latest batch of text messages Meadows references, but according to a letter from Meadows to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Strzok texted Page on April 10, 2017 to say, “I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.” In his letter, Meadows also cites additional text exchanges and a contemporaneous news article about former Trump foreign policy aide Carter Page presented with little context. Strzok’s attorney Aitan Goelman disputed Meadows’ characterization Tuesday in a statement to CNN and accused the President “and his enablers” of “peddling unfounded conspiracy theories to mislead the American People.” “The term ‘media leak strategy’ in Mr. Strzok’s text refers to a Department-wide initiative to detect and stop leaks to the media,” Goelman said. In a tweet citing Fox News, the President wrote, “New Strzok-Page texts reveal ‘Media Leak Strategy.’” Trump tweeted, “So terrible, and NOTHING is being done at DOJ or FBI - but the world is watching, and they get it completely.” Strzok was fired from the FBI last month for his conduct and Page resigned in May.