Former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have settled with the Justice Department over alleged privacy rights violations after the release of their disparaging text messages leveraged by former President Trump to challenge the Russia investigation during his presidency. The settlement is still pending finalization and approval from a judge.
A tentative agreement was filed Tuesday resolving Page’s 5-year-old lawsuit against the FBI for releasing text messages with Strzok — with whom she had an affair — that were critical of the former president. Strzok’s lawsuit seeking backpay and reinstatement remains unsettled. Page sought $1,000 in compensation following the leak of her text messages to the media. Additional details about the settlement were not immediately available.
In 2019, Strzok argued in a court filing that his politically charged anti-Trump messages were protected by the First Amendment even though he sent them on bureau-issued phones while playing leading roles in the probes into both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Page also filed suit against the FBI and Department of Justice, alleging the government’s publication of her salacious text messages with Strzok constituted a breach of the Federal Privacy Act.
The two were involved in the FBI’s initial counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates during the 2016 election and later served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.
In 2020, the spotlight was on the lovers’ scandal during a live performance titled “FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was based on the anti-Trump text messages shared between the former agents. Trump has called the couple the “FBI lovebirds” during his rallies.
Fox News’ Gregg Re and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Former FBI Officials Settle Lawsuit Over Anti-Trump Text Messages
