Justice Dept. settles with ex-FBI officials over anti-Trump text leak (Strzok)

The Washington Post ^ | July 26, 2024 | Spencer Hsu

[KingofZion]

The Justice Department has agreed to settle claims by former senior FBI special agent Peter P. Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who had filed lawsuits accusing the government of violating their privacy rights by leaking their politically charged text messages criticizing Donald Trump.

Strzok’s attorneys say he will receive a $1.2 million settlement. Terms for Page were not disclosed.

Strzok and Page said they were illegally targeted for retribution by the Trump administration after the FBI investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Strzok, a former top counter-intelligence expert, was fired by the FBI in 2018 after news reports surfaced of his politically charged text messages with Page, in which the pair were criticizing Donald Trump while they were having an affair.

***Page’s Arnold & Porter law firm team, led by Amy Jeffress, added, "As Attorney General [Merrick] Garland recently testified in response to questions about this settlement, the Department settles cases based on the litigators’ assessment of the chances of success and the potential costs of losing the case. Here, the evidence was overwhelming that the release of text messages to the press in December 2017 was for partisan political purposes and was against the law. As the Attorney General explained: ‘It’s a question of the government paying for violating the law.’”

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment outside of court filings.

[KingofZion]

Outrageous!

[Reno89519]

I bet we are going to see more of these through November and likely January. Harris needs to be challenged about this.

[Erik Latranyi]

Reward for a job well done

[napscoordinator]

He’ll get 300K after paying lawyers. He’ll still be a jerk.

[rottweiller_inc]

The FBI. If it’s not covering something up, it’s leaking it.

[jz638]

The only way to handle this is to win, and then open up an investigation on the people in the government who pushed for this settlement.

But first... win.

[Sacajaweau]

Rewarding evil...the Dem way!!

[MTBobcat]

It’s a payoff for a job well done.

[TribalPrincess2U]

illegally targeted LIKE DT HAS BEEN.

[vivenne]

Those texts are public knowledge as I believe they were written on publicly/agency owned phones. Unbelievable.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Flabbergasted. The world turned upside down.

[kiryandil]

“Democracy Dies By Gaslight”

[Flaming Conservative]

Figures. And this article still calls the fake Russian crap as fact! LORD, how long? How long till we see the wicked either turn or burn?

[blackdog]

I had an aunt that worked for the Patk Service as an administrator. She would file harassment claims once every few years and split the take with the person she would accuse. The guy accused would get some sensitivity training and golf outings in a resort somewhere seasonal.

A win-win for bureaucrats in the federal abyss. She used to brag about it at family gatherings.

Six figures split.

[Apparatchik]

Remember that that is $1.2 of your money taxpayer. The Deep State just rewarded that douchebag for services rendered.

[Fledermaus]

She should be in prison

[blackdog]

Agreed.

[Revel]

The only country where as a government worker you can plan and execute a coup against the president of the united states and reap a huge financial gain. I hope that Trump finds a way to go after them.

[blackdog]

Multiply that out. She was not an outlier. One of thousands.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

One more in a long line of handshake litigation. The handshake is the agreement to settle if someone sues you. Here, the Biden justice department dispenses taxpayer dollars and creates a moment of apparently bad publicity for the Trump administration (#45.) Does not mean it was a well reasoned settlement, just means they had the power and the incentive (making critical news for the exploitation of the Biden Harris Campaign) to do this. So they did. Does not mean that the claims were valid or had a chance in court. Even in the DC Circuit.