Former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have reached a tentative settlement with the Department of Justice over allegations that their privacy rights were violated when their text messages were released and used by Donald Trump to counter the Russia hoax investigation during his presidency.
The tentative agreement, disclosed in a court filing on Tuesday, aims to resolve the five-year-old case Page brought against the Justice Department. She had sought financial damages of at least $1,000 for alleged privacy violations after her text messages critical of Trump were released to the media.
Strzok, who was fired from the FBI, has not settled the portion of his lawsuit seeking back pay and reinstatement, according to the filing. The settlement has not been finalized or approved by a judge.
In his 2019 lawsuit, Strzok accused the Justice Department of wrongfully terminating him due to Trump's public anger toward him and the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Strzok played a senior role on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team until he was removed after an internal investigation revealed his texts with Page, which were interpreted as politically biased.
Page, who herself briefly served on Mueller’s team, resigned from her role as an FBI lawyer after the discovery of her messages.
Page’s lawsuit alleged that “DOJ and/or FBI officials” provided the messages to reporters “for multiple improper reasons, including to elevate DOJ’s standing with the President.” It contended that journalists were invited to the Justice Department to review the messages at night, with instructions not to copy or remove the messages and not to reveal DOJ as the source.
The lawsuits also resulted in Donald Trump being deposed last year after a protracted legal battle. The Biden Justice Department had sought to ‘shield’ Trump from testifying, citing ‘legal protections for presidents and their official actions.’ During the deposition, attorneys for Page snd Strzok questioned Trump about his public statements and other communications regarding the pair in 2017 and 2018.
