Thousands of text messages between FBI agents apparently have gone missing, and US President Donald Trump is suggesting that Samsung may have played a role.

"In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time," Trump tweeted early Tuesday. The president was referencing texts exchanged between Peter Strzok, formerly a lead agent on the special counsel's investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and Lisa Page, an attorney formerly on the same team.

"Where are the 50,000 important text messages between FBI lovers Lisa Page and Peter Strzok? Blaming Samsung!," Trump tweeted late Tuesday.

In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time. Wow! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2018

Where are the 50,000 important text messages between FBI lovers Lisa Page and Peter Strzok? Blaming Samsung! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2018

Strzok, who in a 2015 text message to Page called then-candidate Trump an "idiot," was reassigned last summer for fear of bias from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential Trump-Russia ties. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia. Strzok's text messages to Page also criticized then-Attorney General Eric Holder and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Page has also been moved out of the investigative team and back into regular FBI duties,

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A software glitch on Samsung-branded, FBI-provided phones is reported to have permanently deleted five months' worth of FBI messages, from Dec. 14, 2016, to May 7, 2017. Trump's tweet read as though Strzok and Page's exchanges numbered around 50,000, but that's thought to be the number of all FBI messages lost.

Samsung and White House representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

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