Text From 2016 Shows Obama’s Interest in FBI Employees’ Work [N.B.: the original, and far more to-the-point, headline was as worded in the source link] Associates say then-president wanted update on Russia; GOP senator suggests it was about Clinton probe Feb. 7, 2018 A text message between two FBI employees from September 2016 released by a Republican senator Wednesday says that then-President Barack Obama “wants to know everything we’re doing.” What exactly the text refers to isn’t specified in the exchange. Associates of the FBI employees said it refers to preparation to brief Mr. Obama about Russian interference in that year’s election. Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), who disclosed the text Wednesday as part of a 25-page report, said it raises questions about meddling by Mr. Obama in the federal Hillary Clinton email investigation, which wasn’t an active probe at that time. The report from Mr. Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, highlights previously cited texts between Peter Strzok, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, and Lisa Page, a bureau lawyer with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Mr. Strzok supervised the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and was to become the lead agent on the special counsel Robert Mueller’s team [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-fbi-director-robert-mueller-named-special-counsel-for-russia-probe-1495058494 ] investigating any ties between Trump associates and Russia. Mr. Strzok was removed in July [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-reassigned-top-aide-on-russia-probe-after-anti-trump-texts-1512249437 ], however, after the Justice Department’s inspector general uncovered numerous text messages between Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page, in 2015 and 2016, that were highly critical of Mr. Trump. Since Mr. Strzok’s removal was disclosed in December, staffers for Mr. Johnson and other senators have been poring over the pair’s correspondence, and the Justice Department has turned over to Congress two batches of the pair’s texts, While The Wall Street Journal obtained many of the text messages between the two staffers last week, reporting that they showed no overall conspiracy against Mr. Trump [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-fbi-life-of-peter-strzok-and-lisa-page-as-told-in-their-text-messages-1517589380 ], Republicans and the president himself have cited the messages as evidence that the Russian probe amounts to a wider plot to undermine him. Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday, “NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS!” He didn’t cite any particular text message. In his Wednesday report, Mr. Johnson pointed to a Sept. 2, 2016, exchange in which Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page were discussing talking points for then-FBI Director James Comey to deliver to Mr. Obama. “Potus wants to know everything we’re doing,” Ms. Page said, using the acronym for President of the United States. Mr. Johnson said the text raises questions about “the type and extent of President Obama’s personal involvement” in the Clinton investigation. The associates of Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page said that exchange referred to the president’s wanting information on Russia election meddling, which the FBI was heavily involved in over that period. That exchange occurred just days before Mr. Obama met Russian President Vladimir Putin [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-putin-meet-on-sidelines-of-g-20-summit-in-chinas-hangzhou-1473056453 ] at a summit in China. Mr. Obama said in December 2016 [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-likely-to-field-questions-on-russia-syria-and-donald-trump-1481908017 ] that he had addressed the issue of tampering with the election process with Mr. Putin at that September meeting. In August and September 2016, the FBI was no longer actively investigating the Clinton matter, after Mr. Comey had said that July that he was recommending no criminal charges be filed. In late October 2016, the FBI ramped up its investigation into Mrs. Clinton again when the bureau learned about a potential trove of new Clinton-related emails on the computer belonging to the husband of one of her aides. Mrs. Clinton and her allies have cited that announcement [ https://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-takes-blame-but-points-to-comey-russia-sexism-for-election-loss-1493760050 ] as a big factor in her election loss. Mr. Johnson’s office didn’t immediately provide further comment about his assertions regarding the text messages. [...] https://www.wsj.com/articles/texts-from-2016-show-fbi-employees-preparing-obama-briefing-on-russia-1518036629 [with comments]
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