GOP reveals new Strzok texts concerning 'crescendo of leaks,' demands watchdog investigate
foxnews.com/politics/repub…
foxnews.com/politics/repub…
Top Republicans on Wednesday demanded that l ICIG Michael Atkinson explain why the watchdog hasn't said if it's investigating "a number of leaks of highly sensitive information" in recent years —
-- and released several previously unpublished texts and emails from since-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, specifically asked the ICIG why Strzok texted bureau colleague Lisa Page on Dec. 15, 2016:
"Think our sisters have begun leaking like mad. Scorned and worried and political, they're kicking in to overdrive."
“What are they worried about, and what are they kicking into 'overdrive?' Johnson and Grassley wrote. "Who are the 'sisters,' and what does it mean to say that the 'sisters have [been] leaking like mad'?"
Additionally, the senators pushed to know whether the ICIG was looking into Strzok's email to FBI colleagues on April 13, 2017, when he wrote that an unidentified "agency" might be the "source of some of the leaks" to the media that he'd been seeing.
"I'm beginning to think the agency got info a lot earlier than we thought and hasn't shared it completely with us," Strzok wrote, according to documents that the senators included in their letter to the ICIG.
"Might explain all these weird/seemingly incorrect leads all these media folks have. Would also highlight agency as a source of some of the leaks."
In a June 6, 2017 email to Page, Strzok mused, "Think there will be a crescendo of leaks/articles leading up to Thurs."
And, a Dec. 13, 2016 text message apparently showed Strzok trying to set up a Skype meeting with a reporter. "Text from reporter: retrieving my password for Skype," he wrote.
Johnson and Grassley emphasized in their letter that the Trump administration "has faced 125 leaked stories -- one leak a day -- containing information that was potentially damaging to national security," according to standards laid out during the Obama administration.
The Republicans have sought answers formally from the ICIG concerning those leaks since May. But, they wrote Wednesday, the ICIG has been nonresponsive --
and even claimed that it cannot comment because Atkinson gave closed-door congressional testimony on Capitol Hill and the transcript of his remarks is not yet public.
"We are not aware of any justification for this position, which is particularly concerning given the role of inspectors general in promoting transparency and helping Congress to fulfill its oversight responsibilities," Grassley and Johnson wrote.
The nonresponsiveness, the senators added, was unique to the ICIG. They noted that Horowitz regularly had briefed Congress on the existence of his probes into DOJ and FBI misconduct, and even "specifically mentioned personnel by job title."
The senators additionally sought information related to the Democrats' impeachment inquiry -- specifically, whether the ICIG was made aware of the whistleblower's complaint and the transcript of Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine's leader before they were made public.
"Are you investigating the classified leaks relating to the complaint and Ukraine call?" The senators asked. "If not, why not?"
