Having been exposed by the Trump-era Justice Department for their attacks on former President Donald Trump, two key figures in the Russiagate smear of Trump are receiving massive payouts from the Biden-era Justice Department.
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, whose communications about Trump on their government phones were revealed as part of the investigation into the now-discredited allegations that the 2016 Trump campaign was linked to Russia, will split a $2 million payday.
Strzok will get $1.2 million and Page will receive $800,000, according to Politico.
“This outcome is a critical step forward in addressing the government’s unfair and highly politicized treatment of Pete,” said Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s lawyer.
“As important as it is for him, it also vindicates the privacy interests of all government employees. We will continue to litigate Pete’s constitutional claims to ensure that, in the future, public servants are protected from adverse employment actions motivated by partisan politics,” he said.
“The evidence was overwhelming that the release of text messages to the press in December 2017 was for partisan political purposes and was against the law,” said Amy Jeffress, who represented Page.
The messages were made public by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who said he made the call that it was better to give the material to the media than have it inevitably leak, according to Time.
“The disclosure obviously would adversely affect public confidence in the FBI, but providing the most egregious messages in one package would avoid the additional harm of prolonged selective disclosures and minimize the appearance of the Department concealing information that was embarrassing to the FBI,” Rosenstein has said.
As word of the impending payments filtered through Congress in June, Attorney General Merrick Garland defended them to House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Politico noted.
“So, you can go after a president, and you get rewarded for doing so, according to the Justice Department?” Jordan asked.
“It’s not a question of reward. It’s a question of the government paying for violating the law,” Garland replied.
That was not how the editorial board of the New York Post saw the payments.
“Congratulations, U.S. taxpayers: You get to pay Peter Strzok and Lisa Page $2 million,” a Post editorial said.
The editorial said Page and Strzok “played politics on the job and got burned for it.”
“But the folks now running Justice share those politics and are taking care of them,” the editorial said.
The Posted noted that “now that Trump looks likely to return the White House, with his picks to clean house at Justice, they’ve settled a winnable lawsuit to reward Strzok and Page.”
“Consider it honor among thieves, albeit at the department charged with serving justice,” the editorial said.
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