Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page addressed on MSNBC's "'The Rachel Maddow Show" the text message exchange with ex-Bureau counterintelligence deputy head Peter Strzok on an "insurance policy" on President Trump, saying it was "an analogy."

Why it matters: The "insurance policy" private text by Strzok, released in 2017, was seen as a "smoking gun" by congressional Republicans and other conservatives who believed an "anti-Trump bias" was building in the FBI and the Department of Justice.

Context: Per the Washington Post, Strzok's full "insurance policy" message to Page stated: "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office — that there's no way he gets elected — but I'm afraid we can’t take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40."

The big picture: Page became a target of Trump's attacks when he was a candidate and she was a trial attorney on then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, after it emerged that she and Strzok criticized Trump in private text messages made public in 2017.

Page's affair with Strzok was made public in 2017, after she was told by the DOJ Inspector General's office that she was under investigation for political text messages — claims she denies.

She's suing the DOJ for violating the Privacy Act by "unlawfully" releasing her text message exchanges with Strzok.

Go deeper:

Editor's note: This article was updated with more context and background on the text messages.