© AP
Peter Strzok
A trail of evidence appearing in major news outlets suggests a campaign to undermine President Trump from within the government through illegal leaks of classified information, and then thwart congressional investigators probing the disclosures.
On Monday the Justice Department
released a handful of texts and other documents that included two former officials known for their anti-Trump bias - Peter Strzok and Lisa Page of the FBI - discussing the DOJ's "media leak strategy." Strzok
now says, through his lawyer, that that strategy was aimed at preventing leaks. Nevertheless, days later he and Page approvingly mention forthcoming news articles critical of Trump associates.
"The leaks that have been coming out of the FBI and DOJ since 2016 are unconscionable," said retired FBI supervisory special agent James Gagliano.
"There's a difference between whistleblowing and leaking for self-serving or partisan purposes."
Past and present U.S. officials say the template for the leak campaign can be traced back to the Obama administration's efforts to sell the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which made the press reliant on background conversations and favorable leaks from government officials. Obama adviser Ben Rhodes told the
New York Times in 2016 that "we created an echo chamber" that "helped retail the administration's narrative."
"That same configuration," said Michael Doran, a senior official in the George W. Bush White House, "the press, political operatives, newly minted experts, social media validators-was repurposed to target Trump, his campaign, transition team, then presidency.
" The echo chamber's primary instrument in attacking the current White House, said Doran, "is the Russia collusion narrative."
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