The latest in the Mueller probe is that among text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page was a reference to a “secret society” comprised of members of the Justice Department and FBI, according to Congressmen Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX):
“Two top FBI officials under fire for exchanging anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 election spoke of a ‘secret society’ the day after President Trump’s victory, according to two lawmakers with knowledge of the messages,” Fox News reports.
“Peter Strzok — a top counterintelligence official involved in both the Hillary Clinton email probe and FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe — exchanged more than 50,000 messages with senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was romantically involved.”
This comes as news that thousands of texts between Strzok and Page are somehow missing or lost, a fact President Trump drew attention to on Twitter Tuesday.
In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time. Wow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2018
First the IRS destroyed emails pivotal to our investigation of their political targeting.
Now the FBI “failed to preserve” texts between Peter Strzok & Lisa Page following the ’16 election.
The time for a second special counsel is now.https://t.co/BonrBlsJsB
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 21, 2018
With regard to the existence of an anti-Trump “secret society” of some sort, Ratfliffe said to Fox News, “I’m not saying that actually happened, but when folks speak in those terms, they need to come forward to explain the context with which they used those terms.”
Of course, it may be difficult to uncover exactly what was meant by that reference. The current Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions claims to be pursuing
“We will leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are not now available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source.”