A key GOP lawmaker argued Wednesday that at least one newly revealed text message from an FBI agent taken off the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia indicates “intent” to keep President Trump from the White House.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pointed to an email that FBI agent Peter Strzok sent to fellow bureau lawyer Lisa Page in August 2016, saying it alluded to a discussion in Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s office.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40,” Strzok wrote to Page, according to CNN.
Jordan said the text “shows some kind of intent to do something to make sure Donald Trump’s not president; to help the other side,” calling it “the most telling” of hundreds of texts uncovered by the Justice Department’s Inspector General and shared with lawmakers.
Jordan has been among House Republicans calling for a second special counsel to investigate whether the FBI relied on a “garbage dossier” to secure “warrants at the FISA court to spy on Americans” involved with the Trump campaign. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act created a special judicial process to allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to collect certain data.
The Ohio Republican argued the the Strzok-Page text exchange “adds all kinds of weight” to show that the FBI worked with one campaign to go after the other.
Watch the video above to hear Jordan in his own words.