However, the text messages cast quite a different light on the conduct of the DOJ and the FBI’s lead agent and attorney (beyond their adulterous affair). The text messages reveal the couple’s desire to arrange for Page to meet Contreras—a cause so important to the duo that they were willing to arrange an intimate dinner party for six with, presumably, their respective spouses.
Page’s questions to Strzok further indicate she had an interest in Contreras because of his position on the FISC. That a high-level FBI lawyer involved in obtaining wiretap orders might seek to schmooze a federal judge sitting on the secret court that issues those warrants should shock the public’s conscience.
Equally appalling are the attempts to conceal Page and Strzok’s conduct from the congressional committees charged with oversight of the FBI and DOJ. As Mollie Hemingway reported on Friday, multiple congressional investigators told The Federalist the text messages between Page and Strzok about Contreras were deliberately hidden from Congress. Hemingway added that “in records provided by DOJ to Congress, the exchanges referencing Contreras, and plans to meet with him under the guise of a cocktail party, were completely redacted by federal law enforcement officials.”
The FBI and DOJ’s failed attempts to bury information from congressional oversight foretells of further revelations. The import of that likelihood far exceeds the news that Contreras was friends with Strzok. Flynn, who is currently awaiting Mueller’s compliance with the standing order from now-presiding Judge Sullivan directing the government to turn over “any evidence in its possession that is favorable to defendant and material either to defendant’s guilt or punishment,” likely agrees.
