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New documents provided to Congress raise "serious concerns" over a "systemic culture of media leakage" among top officials of the FBI and the Justice Department to release damaging information to President Trump Rosenstein on Monday.
In his letter, Mark Meadows, RN.C., notes in particular two text message exchanges in April 2017 between FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. strategy."
"I had just found this phone to tell you that I wanted to talk to you about the media leak strategy with the DOJ before you leave," Strzok wrote to the page on April 10, 2017, according to Meadows. Department of Justice.
Two days later, Strzok wrote: "Well done, Page" and told him that two negative articles on Page's "namesake" would come out soon. That was an apparent reference to Carter Page, Trump's former advisor who the FBI monitored for months after obtaining a court warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The FBI and the DOJ refused to comment. Fox News also contacted lawyers for Strzok and Page; they did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On April 11, 2017, the Washington Post published an article titled "The FBI got a mandate from FISA to monitor Trump's former advisor, Carter Page." This article, quoting "The Forces of Order and other US officials "judge there was" a probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia ".
Message exchanges "should lead a reasonable person to ask if there was a genuine desire to investigate wrongdoing or to disseminate offensive information in the media to warrant ongoing investigation," Meadows writes. .
The page has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Heavily redacted documents have since shown that a record written by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign had played a key role in the fight against corruption. obtaining the mandate of FISA to monitor it as early as October 2016.
DOCS SHOW FBI COUNCIL FISA ADVISED WRONGLY WHAT HAS NOT SOURCE SOURCE OF REPORT JUSTIFYING THE MONITORING OF THE PAGE
Strzok, who was one of the top pollsters for polls Hillary Clinton and Russia, was fired in August after the DOJ's Inspector General apologized for a series of anti-Trump messages that He had sent to his phone. said "we will stop" Trump to become president.
Documents also showed that the FBI had incorrectly reassured the FISA court several times that an article in Yahoo News provided an independent basis for monitoring Page, while in fact it was relying on also on Steele.
In his letter, Meadows noted that the postage report "[set] many articles suggesting links between President Trump and Russia. "
Meadows wrote that the leaks involved other outlets in addition to the Washington Post. FBI and DOJ officials, including MDJ Attorney and High Representative Robert Mueller Andrew Weissmann, met with several Associated Press reporters in April 2017, according to court documents in the trial of former Trump campaign president, Paul Manafort.
MANAFORT FILING UNMASKS DOJ MEETING WITH REPORTERS AP, MAY HAVE VIOLATED SECRECY OF GRAND JURY
Media leaks continued even as FBI lawyers quoted the US prosecutor's manual as saying to Congress that witnesses could not answer questions about waiting probes, Meadows wrote.
There is "disturbing evidence" that the FBI and DOJ continue to coordinate leaks to the media, Meadows said. While these disclosures may not be allowed, he added, they further undermine the appearance of the office's impartiality.
Meadows concluded by requesting written submissions from FBI and DOJ officials, including Stu Evans, Mike Kortan, and Joe Pientka, from June 2016 to June 2017, although he pointed out that he did not want to hear from him. was not suggested that they commit wrongdoing.
Congressional sources told Fox News that they hoped that President Trump would soon accept a long-standing request from the House's judicial and intelligence committees to declassify more documents used to justify the monitoring of Page. .
Ohr was in contact in 2016 with Weissmann, then with his colleague, as well as with other senior FBI officials about the controversial anti-Trump case and the people behind him, said two sources close to the folder at Fox News.
Congressional Republicans are still trying to shed light on the role of Ohr in the unchecked Steele file circulation. A memorandum issued in February by the House Intelligence Committee issued by a Republican said that Steele "had maintained contact" with Ohr "before and after" that the government had sent the ex-British spy as a source.
But Republicans said the FBI had not disclosed to FISA court not only the sources of funding for the Steele case, but also Ohr's involvement and the fact that his wife, Nellie, had worked for Fusion GPS, the research firm of the opposition. folder.
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