Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, demanded the FBI “tell the truth” about missing texts in an epic tweet storm Tuesday night.
Mr. Meadows, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a 13-Tweet thread outlining the missing text scandal, saying it “stinks to high heaven.”
On Monday, the Department of Justice revealed that the FBI lost five months of text exchanges between agent Peter Strzok and his alleged mistress Lisa Page, an FBI attorney.
The pair were part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible links between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. However, Mr. Strzok was removed from the investigation and Ms. Page left last summer.
Some of the 50,000 texts they exchanged over a two-year period between July 2015 and July 2017 revealed an anti-Trump bias. Mr. Strzok called Trump “loathsome” and “an idiot” in the months prior to the election. The two also discussed a vague “insurance policy” against the president should he be elected.
Folks, this stinks to high heaven. If this is anything what it looks like—the FBI changing course on investigation, putting their thumb on the scale to undermine Donald Trump and essentially help Hillary Clinton—that is as wrong as it gets. This demands further investigation.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 24, 2018
Mr. Trump and his allies have pointed to the texts as proof that the Mueller investigation is biased and political in nature.
Even Mr. Strzok himself appeared to express doubt about the Mueller investigation. Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, announced Tuesday that one of the texts Mr. Strozk sent to Ms. Page express his reluctance to join the probe because he doesn’t believe it will find anything.
In a stunning development, the FBI revealed Monday that it lost five months of texts between Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vowed the Department of Justice will do all that it an to find the missing texts, which cover the period between December 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017. That spans the critical period between the start of Mr. Trump’s transition to when Mr. Mueller was appointed as special counsel.
Mr. Meadows took to Twitter and suggested that Mr. Strzok was facing “pressure” to end the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecured e-mail server. That text came on the same day as Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, dropped out of the Republican primaries, making Mr. Trump the only candidate.
“Now the pressure really starts to finish MYE,” Mr. Strzok wrote. MYE appears to refer to “Mid-Year Exam,” the FBI’s code name for the Clinton e-mail investigation.
“We have Peter Strzok, the deputy of FBI counter-intelligence and lead Clinton investigator, who we already know blasted Trump in text messages, talking about the need to end the Clinton investigation ….. right after he knew Hilary would be running against Trump,” Meadows said. “Major problem.”
Next, Mr. Meadows said there is email documentation that suggests Mr. Strzok changed former FBI Director James Comey’s 2016 letter exonerating Ms. Clinton in the e-mail scandal. Mr. Meadows said Mr. Strzok is the one who changed the phrase “gross negligence” to “extreme carelessness.”
“That change is hugely significant,” Mr. Meadows said. “Had Dir. Comey called Hilary “grossly negligent” in his letter, he would’ve essentially been saying she committed a crime.”
Mr. Meadows next accused the FBI of changing course on the Clinton investigation to undermine Mr. Trump.
“This is not party politics. This is not partisan bickering. This is an issue that gets at the very heart of who we are as a nation. If any officials at the FBI were engaged in this kind of behavior we need to know,” Mr. Meadows said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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