WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday settled a lawsuit with two former FBI officials who had accused the Trump administration of violating their privacy by sharing with the news media their texts disparaging former President Donald Trump, according to court documents.
As part of the settlement, the government agreed to pay the former officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, concluding at least some of the litigation. The amount was not disclosed in court filings, but Strzok’s law firm said he received $1.2 million.
Their texts incited a political firestorm after the Justice Department in December 2017 invited reporters to review them at night before handing them over to Congress. Then a senior FBI counterintelligence agent who helped oversee the bureau’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia in 2016, Strzok exchanged inflammatory messages with Page, a bureau lawyer involved in the inquiry. Republicans seized on the texts to try to discredit the investigation.
The agreement is likely to anger Trump, who has railed against the pair for years and leveled baseless accusations that the investigation was a “witch hunt” intended to damage his campaign. Strzok drafted the memo opening the investigation, which was approved by his superiors.
In 2019, Strzok and Page filed separate lawsuits against the department and the FBI. Strzok is still suing the Justice Department on two other counts, claiming it also violated his constitutional rights and that its subsequent decision to fire him was politically motivated.
Strzok’s lawyer, Aitan D. Goelman, welcomed the decision, adding that he would continue to fight the remaining claims. “This outcome is a critical step forward in addressing the government’s unfair and highly politicized treatment of Pete,” he said in a statement. “As important as it is for him, it also vindicates the privacy interests of all government employees.”
Page left the bureau in 2018; her suit against the department centered only on whether it had violated her privacy. Amy Jeffress, a lawyer for Page, also praised the outcome. “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,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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