Two former FBI officials settled lawsuits with the Justice Department on Friday, resolving claims that their privacy rights were violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged former President Donald Trump.
Peter Strzok , a former top counterintelligence agent who played a crucial role in the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 , settled his case for $1.2 million. Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who exchanged text messages with Strzok, also reached a separate settlement. Court records reviewed by The Associated Press show she is to be paid $800,000.
The two had sued the Justice Department over a 2017 episode in which officials shared copies with reporters of text messages that they had sent each other, including ones that described Trump as an "idiot" and a "loathsome human" and that called the prospect of a Trump victory "terrifying."
Strzok, who also investigated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, was fired after the text messages came to light. Page resigned. They later sued, alleging that department officials leaked the texts to promote a false narrative of anti-Trump bias within the FBI and to elevate the department's status with Trump after his relentless attacks on then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Justice Department inspector general reports examining the handling of the Clinton email and Trump-Russia investigations did not find evidence that partisan bias within the FBI influenced investigative decisions.
