Two former FBI officials have tentatively agreed with the Justice Department to settle claims that their privacy was violated. This stems from the department allegedly leaking their text messages to the media, which criticized former President Donald Trump.
The tentative agreement was mentioned in a brief court filing on Tuesday, although the specific terms were not disclosed.
Peter Strzok, a former senior FBI counterintelligence agent involved in investigating possible ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign, was dismissed in 2018 after his anti-Trump texts surfaced. Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, resigned the same year.
In federal lawsuits filed in the District of Columbia, they accused the Justice Department of violating their privacy rights by sharing their communications with reporters in December 2017.
FBI seal (Via Curtis Heard/Shutterstock)
These messages described Trump as an “idiot,” a “loathsome human,” and expressed fear over the prospect of a Trump victory.
Strzok also sued over his firing, alleging that the FBI succumbed to pressure from Trump and violated his First Amendment rights. The constitutional issues raised in his lawsuit are not resolved by the tentative settlement, according to the court filing.
Trump, who publicly supported Strzok’s dismissal and accused him of treason, was questioned under oath last year as part of the ongoing legal proceedings.
The text messages came to light during the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation into the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.
