Last year, a top official from the FBI told Congress that he feared that the relationship between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page could cause them to become vulnerable to intelligence services in foreign countries.
In June of 2018, the FBI’s assistant director for counterintelligence, Bill Priestap, testified that he had heard a few rumors about an affair between Strzok and Page, who were required to report to him, but he was encouraged to speak to the couple after he received the tip about their relationship.
During a closed-door testimony, Priestap said: “But after Pete had been reporting to me for a considerable amount of time, somebody brought to my attention that that behavior might be going on. And so that’s when it — I became aware that that was a possibility.”
On Tuesday, the transcript of Priestap’s testimony was released by Rep. Doug Collins from Georgia, who has a seat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Priestap explained that he discussed the affair with former Director Andrew McCabe. He also claimed that he received the information about the affair from either a lawyer for the Justice Department, Sally Moyer, or Jonathan Moffa, a counterintelligence officer for the FBI.
“I felt I owed it to them. Lisa did not report to me, but I felt that they ought to be aware of what was being said. I didn’t ask them if it was true, but they needed to know that that impression was out there,” he said.
“And I don’t remember my exact words. But what I was trying to communicate is this better not interfere with things, if you know what I mean. Like, to me, the mission is everything. And so, we all have our personal lives, what have you. I’m not the morality police.”
A congressional staffer later asked Priestap whether he believed the affair could make Strzok and Page “vulnerable to an intelligence service.” He responded by saying: “In my opinion, yes, if that was going on, that potentially makes them vulnerable.” Keep in mind, this wasn’t the only time that their affair was mentioned by Congress as being a potential target for foreign spies.
When Strzok gave his testimony, he ignored the suggestions that the affair he had with Page made him vulnerable to foreign intelligence agencies. Page and Strzok, who was fired from the FBI last summer, were responsible for investigating the possible collusion between President Trump and Russia.
Page and Strzok were taken off of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team after it was discovered that the couple was exchanging anti-Trump messages, in which they spoke about making sure that Trump didn’t become president. One message, in particular, spoke about an “insurance policy” that was spoken about with McCabe, just in case Trump was victorious in the 2016 presidential election.
