The FBI agent who was dismissed from the Mueller probe for anti-Trump messages was responsible for changing the description that James Comey read when reprimanding Hillary Clinton for using her private email server.
CNN reported Monday that Peter Strzok, one of the top officials involved in the investigation of Clinton’s private email server, changed Comey’s remarks from saying Clinton’s behavior was ‘grossly negligent’ to ‘extremely careless.’
This distinction is important because there are criminal penalties for individuals who mishandle classified material with ‘gross negligence,’ the network pointed out.
An FBI agent already under scrutiny for sending anti-Trump text messages was behind changing James Comey’s (pictured) description of Hillary Clinton’s behavior in regards to her private email server
The agent, Peter Strzok, was a top investigator of Hillary Clinton’s (left) emails, but then was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s (right) Russia probe over text messages that made him seem biased
President Trump latched onto news reports that said FBI agent Peter Strzok was pulled off the Mueller probe after anti-Trump text messages were found. Strzok was also a lead investigator on the Hillary Clinton email probe, with Trump now suggesting bias
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, was already questioning why the change was made.
But now CNN has identified the name of the individual who made it.
President Trump had been railing against Strzok’s actions on Sunday, as the Washington Post and New York Times both reported that he had been demoted and is no longer working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe over the content of some texts.
The text had been sent between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, the Post reported.
Their messages, the paper said, ‘expressed anti-Trump sentiments and other comments that appeared to favor Clinton,’ an unnamed source told the paper.
In August, ABC News had reported Strzok’s departure from the Russia probe, but journalists then didn’t report the reason.
Now the controversy could taint not one, but two of the biggest federal investigations in the last year.
The president, through retweets, mentioned the fact that Strzok had been ousted from the Mueller probe, but really harped on Clinton.
‘Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI “agent’s role in Clinton probe under review,”‘ Trump tweeted Sunday morning. ‘Led Clinton Email probe. @foxandfriend Clinton money going to wife of another FBI agent in charge.’
The latter dig was meant for Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, whose wife took campaign donations from Clinton ally, outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The FBI has pointed out that McCabe had no role in the Clinton investigation until months after his wife’s political campaign had concluded.
Trump went after Strzok again by writing, ‘Report: “ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE”‘
‘Now it all starts to make sense,’ Trump said.