Story highlights Two FBI staff members have been accused of anti-Trump bias for their texts

The DOJ also wants to see a congressional memo alleging FISA abuse

Washington (CNN) A Justice Department spokeswoman said Thursday that it's unclear whether a text message between two FBI employees referring to a "secret society" was serious or done in jest.

"It's unclear. That's why we wait for an inspector general report, who is investigating this," Sarah Isgur Flores told CNN's "New Day."

Conservatives have seized on the text exchange between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and FBI agent Peter Strzok, which was sent after the 2016 presidential election, as potential evidence of an anti-Donald Trump bias at the FBI. Strzok was a member of the FBI team investigating Hillary Clinton's email server and, later, a member of Robert Mueller's special counsel operation looking into Russia's attempted interference in the 2016 election.

CNN has reviewed the text message that Republicans appear to be referring to. The message does not reveal an obvious intention behind the exchange, and raises the possibility that it may have been an off-hand remark or joke. that Republicans appear to be referring to. The message does not reveal an obvious intention behind the exchange, and raises the possibility that it may have been an off-hand remark or joke.

"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society," Page said to Strzok, with whom she was romantically involved, in one of the tens of thousands text messages they exchanged.

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