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By John Solomon
Opinion contributor
To this day, Lisa Page's infamy has been mainly motivated by the anti-Donald Trump messages she exchanged with FBI agent Peter Strzok as they pledged to investigate the alleged electoral collusion with Russia.
Yet, when the story rules the former FBI lawyer in a few years, his most significant statement may not have been captured on his Samsung smartphone issued by his office to his colleague and lover.
It could be eight simple words spoken in camera during an interview with Congress a few weeks ago.
"It's a reflection of us who still do not know it," said Rep. John Ratcliffe
John Lee RatcliffeThe House of Commons Panel Advances DHS Vulnerability Bills A Russian Pirate Pleads Guilty for Botnet | Reddit banned QAnon forum | FCC delays review of T-Mobile merger, Sprint | EU approves controversial copyright law Homeland Security awards major electronic contract to ManTech MORE (R-Texas) questioned about texts exchanged with Strzok in May 2017 Robert Mueller
Robert Swan MuellerSasse: The United States should applaud Mueller's choice of leading Russia to investigate MORE was appointed special prosecutor to resume the investigation in Russia.
With this statement, Page has recognized a key fact: after nine months of using the most impressive surveillance powers offered to US intelligence services, the FBI still failed to link Trump or his campaign to electoral interference from Russia.
The page went further, acknowledging "that there was still a possibility that there was literally nothing" to connect Trump and Russia, no matter what Mueller or the FBI did.
"In May 2017, we still could not answer the question," she said at another time.
I contacted Page's lawyer, Amy Jeffress, on Friday. She refused to answer questions about her client's cooperation with Congress.
It could take a few seconds before the enormity of Page's statements gets in the way. After all, she's not just an FBI lawyer. She played a leading role in Russia 's record early in the summer of 2016 and she helped him move to Mueller during the summer of 2017.
For those who might question the word of a single FBI lawyer, there is more.
Shortly after his dismissal, ex-director of the FBI James Comey
James Brien ComeyLisa Page bombshell: the FBI could not prove the collusion between Trump and Russia before the appointment of Mueller The #Resistance refuses to recognize more texts Strzok damning Do not blame the FBI He told the Senate that there is still no evidence to support an investigation of Trump for complicity with Russia. "When I left, we did not investigate President Trump
The host of Donald John TrumpCNN reads a letter from the antenna An accuser of Kavanaugh was sent to Feinstein Five times Mattis separated from Trump Flake and said that he did is not ready yet to vote yes on KavanaughSaid Comey.
And Strzok, the counterintelligence boss and head of the Russian investigation, sent a message to Page in May 2017 saying he was reluctant to join Mueller's investigation and leave his post at the FBI because 'he feared
The Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Strzok shortly before he was fired from the FBI what he meant by this text, and he offered a very insightful answer.
Strzok said he was not sure there was a "coordinated and broad-based effort" to hijack the elections and that evidence of Trump's campaign aides Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonLisa Page bombshell: the FBI could not prove the collusion between Trump and Russia before the appointment of Mueller by Manafort – the big winners and the losers The dirt of the Russians was perhaps only a "group of opportunists" who spoke to increase their importance.
Strzok added that although he raised the idea of impeachment in some of his texts, on the page "I have not been, once again, I am not convinced or certain that it will be the case" he told the IG.
So, by the words of Comey, Strzok and Page, we now know that the Trump Department of Justice – through the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
Rod Jay RosensteinLisa Bomb Page: The FBI could not prove the collusion between Trump and Russia before Mueller's appointment Ken Starr: "Hell to pay" if Trump tries to fire Mueller Legal – dropped the investigation of Mueller's special prosecutor before the FBI could validate a connection between Trump and Russia.
Which raises the question: if there was no concrete evidence of collusion, why did we need a special attorney?
Page's comments also mean that FBI and Justice officials probably leaked a flood of media information just before and after Mueller's appointment, which made the evidence of collusion much stronger than investigators knew. . The text messages show contacts between key FBI and DOJ actors and the Washington Post, the Associated Press and the New York Times as Mueller's investigation escalates.
And that means that the media – perhaps wishing to find a new Watergate, relaunching weaker fortunes – were far too willing to be manipulated by the players in a case that had started with a Democratic opposition research project, Hillary Clinton . led by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, who despised Trump.
Finally, the statement on the page indicates that the country's first intelligence tribunal may not have had a complete picture of the evidence – or lack thereof – because it approved an extraordinary surveillance intrusion into a country's campaign. American candidate a few weeks before the election.
The FBI has committed no fault to check if Trump has been compromised by Russia; it's a classic counterintelligence responsibility.
The real fault lies with the leaders who allowed a secret investigation to spread in a media maelstrom pushed by official leaks that created a story that far exceeded the evidence and then
No matter where Mueller finishes his investigation, it is now clear that the actions that preceded his appointment did justice to the court, imposing a presumption of guilt on an investigation whose authors had reason to doubt the strength of their evidence.
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has brought to light the failures of US intelligence and the FBI before the September 11 attacks, the abuse of scientists and scientists. veterans by federal scientists and many cases of political corruption. He is executive vice president of The Hill for the video.
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