Disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok claims the anti-Trump text messages between himself and his lover, Lisa Page are protected under the First Amendment, despite sending them on government phones while leading investigations into both presidential candidates during the 2016 election.
In a court filing in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Strzok–who is suing the government for reinstatement–argued, “Firing an employee for the content of his or her non-public communications is unconstitutional, irrespective of any balancing of interests.”
Strzok argued that because his text messages were leaked by the Department of Justice, it should be considered private communications.
Strzok, once the FBI’s head of counterintelligence, said he was entitled to “develop a full factual record through discovery,” and that it would be premature to dismiss the case at this early stage. He went on to argue that the DOJ’s position would “leave thousands of career federal government employees without protections from discipline over the content of their political speech.”
The filing is a response to the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit.
Some of Strzok and Page’s most memorable texts (there are too many to list them all) include:
- Page: “Trump’s not going to become president, right?” Strzok: “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.”
- Page: “God Trump is loathsome human.” Strzok: “Yet he many win.”
- Strzok: “God Hillary should win. 100,000,000-0.” Page: “I know”
- Strzok: “I am riled up. Trump is a f***ing idiot, is unable to provide a coherent answer.”
Lisa Page has also filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice and the FBI, claiming she suffered numerous damages after her text messages with FBI agent Peter Strzok were released to the public.
The complaint, filed earlier this month, states that the DOJ’s disclosure of Page’s text messages caused “significant harm and financial loss” in the form of “permanent loss of earning capacity due to reputational damage” and “the cost of therapy to cope with unwanted national media exposure and harassment” because of President Trump’s public discussions of Page’s messages with Strzok.
The lawsuit states, “In the two years since the December 12 disclosure, the President has targeted Ms. Page by name in more than 40 tweets and dozens of interviews, press conferences, and statements from the White House, fueling unwanted media attention that has radically altered her day-to-day life.”
Page resigned from the FBI in May of 2018 and Strzok was fired in August of 2018.
