Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said newly released text messages exchanged between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page “raise serious concerns about the impartiality of senior leadership running both the [Hillary] Clinton and [President Donald] Trump investigations.”

The Iowa Republican on Thursday released seven pages of texts between Strzok and Page, both of whom were part of the Clinton and Trump investigations, ranging in dates from February 2016 to June 2017, including one where they discuss how many personnel from the Justice Department and FBI will be part of the investigation into Clinton’s private email server, and that if they were part of the investigation and possibly interview with her, they would need to be “loaded for bear.”

“One more thing: she might be our next president. The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bear. You think she’s going to remember or care that it was more doj than fbi?” Page said on Feb. 25, 2016, to which Strzok replied: “Agreed. I called Bill and relayed what we discussed. He agrees. I will email you and [redacted] same.”

Investigators believe the "Bill" referred to in the text was not former President Bill Clinton, but rather FBI counterintelligence head Bill Priestap.



Grassley also says how another group of texts show then-FBI chief of staff James Rybicki thought FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should recuse himself from the Clinton investigation because of “perception.”

McCabe’s wife was running for a state Senate seat, and received donations from groups tied to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close friend of the Clintons. The FBI just released documents that show he had no conflict of interest, but Republicans have still voiced concern about the overall bias in the FBI.

“Rybicki just called to check in. He very clearly 100% believes that Andy should be recused because of the ‘perception,’” Page said.

Grassley highlighted the texts as part of a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, amid his committee’s probe into the handling of the Clinton investigation.



Strzok and Page were both part of the Clinton investigation, and later members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, but have since been removed.