Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., lambasted congressional Republicans Thursday for fueling speculation about FBI anti-Trump "secret society" meetings after the release of more text messages sent between two officials from the bureau accused of harboring bias toward President Trump.

"I’m glad somebody’s hot on the trail of this secret society. As soon as we’re done investigating Russia, we’ll join the hunt for the Illuminati," Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter.



A host of prominent Republicans mentioned the alleged off-site "secret society" meetings for FBI personnel aimed at undermining the Trump administration after more messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were made public.

“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 wrote the day after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, according to the ABC.

Another text sent from Strzok the day after the election said, “Omg I am so depressed.”

Many Democratic lawmakers and political pundits have pointed to the seemingly innocuous nature of the exchange, as Senate Homeland Security Committee Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., walked back his comments regarding the reported "secret society."

The missives were provided to the Senate Homeland Security Committee and others by the Justice Department on Friday following their discovery as part of an inspector general investigation concerning the FBI’s behavior during the 2016 election.

It was revealed in December that the two lawyers, who were also both involved with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, expressed anti-Trump sentiments and favoritism toward Hillary Clinton while the FBI was investigating both parties.