The Justice Department inspector general says he has recovered missing text messages from two senior FBI officials who investigated Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and exchanged notes critical of the president.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office “succeeded in using forensic tools” to recover messages between senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page during a key five-month period ending the day special counsel Robert S. Mueller III was appointed to investigate possible coordination between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign. The missing messages have sparked a political firestorm in recent days, with GOP leaders and the president questioning how the FBI failed to retain them.
Horowitz’s letter did not indicate how many messages were recovered, and it said his effort to locate more was “ongoing.” He said he would provide copies to the Justice Department and would not object if leaders there determined it was appropriate to turn them over to Congress. A Justice Department official has said that the FBI failed to save text messages sent from thousands of cellphones, including Page’s and Strzok’s.
The letter was sent to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.