Media

Lou Dobbs: ‘May be time to declare war’ on ‘deep state’

Fox Business host Lou Dobbs said it is “time to declare war” against the “deep state” he says is present in the FBI and Justice Department.

“It may be time to declare war outright against the deep state and clear out the rot in the upper levels of the FBI and the Justice Department,” Dobbs said Tuesday. “Yes, I said ‘the rot.’”

Dobbs is the latest in a series of conservative media figures to speak about the “deep state,” alleging that high-level officials in U.S. intelligence agencies are conspiring to take down President Trump.

“The FBI and the DOJ have broken the public trust by destroying evidence, defying oversight and actively trying to bring down the Trump presidency,” Dobbs said.

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Dobbs pointed specifically to the text exchanges between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which GOP lawmakers and Trump have said are examples of political bias in the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Strzok was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team after it was revealed that he sent anti-Trump texts to Page throughout the campaign. Strzok also served on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

GOP lawmakers have raised concerns over specific concepts referred to in the text exchanges, particularly recently unveiled messages that referred to a “secret society” following the presidential election and mention of an “insurance policy” in the spring of 2016.

“There are new concerns that anti-Trump FBI officials formed even a secret society at the FBI to subvert the president after his election,” Dobbs said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Justice Department would investigate about five months’ worth of missing text messages between Strzok and Page.