Well this is interesting. Apparently the anti-Trumper Peter Strzok may not have been as ‘hackish’ as his text messages have made him out to be.
According to CNN, Strzok played a key role in drafting the letter to Congress back in October 2016 about reopening the Hillary email case:
EXCLUSIVE: Controversial FBI agent Peter Strzok played a key role in the decision for James Comey to send a letter to Congress about the bureau’s investigation of newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails days before the election, CNN has learned https://t.co/j0YgCPxQvu pic.twitter.com/GZkGVmx7Pq
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 31, 2018
Here’s more:
CNN – Emails obtained by CNN show the FBI agent at the center of a Capitol Hill storm played a key role in a controversial FBI decision that upended Hillary Clinton’s campaign just days before the 2016 election: the letter to Congress by then – FBI Director James Comey announcing the bureau was investigating newly discovered Clinton emails.
Strzok, who co-wrote what appears to be the first draft that formed the basis of the letter Comey sent to Congress, also supported reopening the Clinton investigation once the emails were discovered on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop, according to a source familiar with Strzok’s thinking. The day after Strzok sent his draft to his colleagues, Comey released the letter to Congress, reigniting the email controversy in the final days of the campaign.
Strzok did, however, harbor reservations about Comey making a public announcement just days before the election and sent a text message to that effect, two sources said. And Strzok’s text messages provided to Congress show him grappling with the fallout of making the letter public, according to a CNN review of his texts.
This new information reveals a more complicated portrait of Strzok than many of his critics have painted in public. Republicans have seized on text messages between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were often critical of Trump, to characterize the two — who were having an extramarital affair — as part of an effort to go easy on Clinton and get tough with Trump.
While Strzok was removed from the Mueller probe last year, he also was deeply involved in the Clinton investigation and sought to pursue it “aggressively,” according to the source familiar with Strzok’s thinking.
In an October 27, 2016, email the FBI provided to congressional investigators, Strzok informs his colleagues he and another FBI agent had drafted “the first cut” of the letter notifying Congress of the decision to reopen the Clinton email investigation. His colleagues then exchanged two additional emails referencing further comments and changes to Strzok’s initial draft, which was ultimately forwarded to Comey by then-FBI chief of staff James Rybicki.
One of the drafts, reviewed by CNN, was recently produced to Congress with the email chain. But it is unclear whether that draft was the initial copy written by Strzok or one incorporating others’ edits. That draft states that the FBI had an “obligation to take appropriate investigative steps to review” the newly discovered emails on Weiner’s laptop.
The next day, on October, 28, 2016, Comey sent the final letter to Congress, editing out the line that he had an “obligation” to take steps to review. Instead, new language was added saying that Comey had been briefed by his team “yesterday” and that he “agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps.”
The key line noting that the “FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” appears in both the final version and the earlier draft reviewed by CNN.
Two sources who reviewed the text messages between Strzok and Page said they exchanged messages on November 6, when Page said she didn’t know if they should issue a public statement, which Strzok agreed with. The two did not describe which statement they were referring to, but that same day, Comey sent another public letter to Congress to close the Clinton email investigation — just two days before the election.
So Strzok helped draft the initial letter reopening the case just two weeks before the election, but then also sent a letter to Congress closing the email investigation two days before the election.
This just proves that things aren’t always as black and white as they look. But we also have to take into consideration that Strzok participated in softening the language to let Hillary off the hook, and he was the one who let Huma and Mills off the hook as well.