DOJ reaches settlement with ex-FBI ‘lovebirds’ caught in anti-Trump text scandal

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were embroiled in a scandal concerning texts that revealed their disdain for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Under the terms of the settlement, the details of which have not been made public, Strzok and Page will receive an undisclosed amount of money. In exchange, they agreed to drop their respective lawsuits against the DOJ. Both had alleged that the government violated their privacy rights by releasing their text messages to the media. The scandal erupted when it was revealed that Strzok and Page, who were having an extramarital affair, had exchanged text messages criticizing Trump during the 2016 presidential election. The pair was involved in the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State, as well as the initial stages of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The text messages were released to the public in December 2017, leading to accusations of bias within the FBI. Both Page and Strzok were removed from their roles in the special counsel's investigation and Strzok was later fired from the FBI. It's worth noting that the Inspector General's report found that while the text messages showed a clear bias, they did not impact the outcomes of the investigations they were involved in.