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More than nine months after the FBI opened its highly classified counterintelligence investigation into the alleged coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, FBI attorney Lisa Page said investigators still did not know what they were doing. There had been collusion. by Fox News.
"I think that means that even in May 2017, we still can not answer the question," said Page.
Page was responding to Republican John Ratcliffe of Texas, who wanted more information on a May 2017 text where Page, his colleague and FBI agent Peter Strzok were discussing the merits of joining Special Adviser Robert Mueller's team .
The page sits for the interview transcribed before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees in mid-July as part of a joint congressional investigation into the treatment by the Ministry of Justice. Justice polls by email from Russia and Clinton.
According to the record, Page has stopped responding halfway. "… sorry, can I consult a lawyer, I'm sorry, I need to consult an FBI board for a while."
The sections of the transcript reviewed by Fox show Ratcliffe continued the line of questioning at least three more times, and Page provided varying responses.
Lisa Page, former FBI lawyer
(Associated Press)
"I can not provide the details of a confidential interview," Ratcliffe told Fox News when asked to comment. "But I can say that Lisa Page has given the impression, in her own words, that the chief investigator of the Russian collusion case, Peter Strzok, has Had found no evidence of collusion after nearly a year. "
"Lisa Page has left the impression, in her own words, that the chief investigator of the Russian collusion case, Peter Strzok, had found no evidence of collusion after nearly a year. "
On May 18, 2017, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz highlighted the text of his recent report on how the FBI and the Department of Justice handled the Clinton electronic probe. In the wake of the appointment of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller to the May 17 investigation, Mr. Strzok and Mr. Page discussed the possibility of Strzok joining Mueller's team.
"Who gives a f * ck, another A (ssistant) D (irector) … (versus) (a) n an investigation leading to removal?" Strzok sent a text message on May 18, according to the IG's report. Later, Strzok continues, "You and I both know that probabilities are nothing, and if I thought that would be likely, I would be there without hesitation." I hesitate partly because of my instinct and my worry.
The transcript shows that Ratcliffe read the almost verbatim text exchange at Page and asked him to explain it, especially if the lead investigator on the case of collusion with Russia, Constable Strzok thought that "the chances were nothing and there against any collusion … "
Page said, "No, I do not think so, I think it's a reflection of us still not knowing … There was always a possibility that there was literally nothing there , probably not anything, as we probably knew more than that at that time, but in the pattern of possible outcomes, the most serious obviously being crimes serious enough to warrant indictment, but on another level you know, an unconscious person was actually involved in the publication of information, but she finally hit no manager, you know, members of the administration or the campaign.The text therefore reflects this spectrum. "
During the testimony, Page stated that she was not trying to be "shy", but that there were restrictions on what she could reveal. "I'm not supposed to talk about the sufficiency of the evidence, that's why I weigh my words carefully."
The page went on: "Surveys are fluid, is not it? And at different times, prospects are promising and tracks are blurring. And so I can not – I can not answer more to this text, but certainly at this point, the case was going on, we did not have an answer, that is obvious, and I think we all looked at the question of what the answer would be. .
Special Adviser Robert Mueller
The month of May 2017 is a key month because FBI President James Comey was fired by President Trump and Mueller was appointed special advisor. In August, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mr. Mueller, drafted the still-secret "scope memorandum" which set out the limits of the special advocate's investigation.
According to Congressional sources, the texts and Page's response raise important questions about the predicate of the investigation and if, in the summer of 2017, it was largely a case of obstruction and not of Russian collusion.
Fox News asked Page's lawyer to comment on the member's assessment of the testimony, but there was no immediate response.
When Horowitz asked Strzok about the text "not much there," Strzok replied, "My question was whether or not this represented a large coordinated conspiracy. the accomplishment, what I thought was the best use of my skills and talents for the FBI and for the United States, whether to take, which way to go. "
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