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On Friday, the Justice Department settled a longstanding privacy suit with Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two former officials who found themselves in the center of a maelstrom in 2018 as Republicans tried to discredit the Mueller investigation. While Strzok’s wrongful termination claims are still pending, the settlement brings to a close a particularly nasty episode from the Trump administration, one which would have been a major scandal in any other White House.
In 2016 and 2017, Page, an FBI lawyer, and Strzok, a high-ranking FBI agent, worked together on investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email server and Donald Trump’s Russia ties. In July of 2017, after it emerged that they were in a romantic relationship and had exchanged private texts critical of Trump, they were removed Special Counsel Mueller’s team.
In contravention of Page and Strzok’s rights under the Privacy Act, the Justice Department leaked their texts to reporters in an effort to protect Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein from the wrath of his fellow Republicans. Specifically DOJ Spox Sarah Isgur (then known as Sarah Flores) curated a set of 375 of the most salacious texts and handed them to congressional Republicans on December 12, the day before Rosenstein was scheduled to testify. Then Isgur summoned reporters to the Justice Department late that evening and showed them the texts, on the condition that the reporters obscure the source of the information. The leak was designed to ensure that the papers led with Page and Strzok’s personal indiscretions, so that congressional Republicans would target them and not Rosenstein. But Natasha Bertrand, then of Business Insider, published a story about Isgur’s sleazy maneuver that morning, blunting the effectiveness of the gambit.
Sarah Isgur, who duly defended every racist policy Jeff Sessions could dream up, was fired after the midterms when Trump gave Sessions the boot. She now hosts a podcast with David French where they lament the immorality of the current Republican party. Because shame is dead.
Trump targeted Page and Strzok for years, both online and in speeches, often in the most graphic and demeaning terms. The pair were vilified in the press and eventually Strzok was fired, allegedly at the behest of Trump himself and in contravention of DOJ policy. In 2019, Page and Strzok each sued the DOJ for privacy violations, with Strzok adding claims for wrongful termination. And while Page’s case is assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Strzok’s case, has presided over a protracted dispute about their joint motion to depose Trump and FBI Director Chris Wray since early 2020.
While Trump screamed bloody murder about being WITCH HUNTED by the FBI, the Attorney General put up a hell of a fight trying to make sure that the former president wouldn’t have to go under oath in this civil suit. Trump was finally deposed in October of 2023, after which Judge Jackson shoved the parties firmly in the direction of a mediator. And after a mere nine months, it seems to have worked.
In stipulations published by Politico, the DOJ agreed to pay $1.2 million to Strzok and $800,000 to Page in settlement of their Privacy Act claims. Strzok amended his complaint, which now covers only the wrongful termination.
When it became clear that the parties were near agreement, congressional Republicans seized yet another opportunity to make hay over the story, attacking Attorney General Garland during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on June 3.
“The Privacy Act doesn’t distinguish between people we like and people we don’t like, information we like and information we don’t like. If somebody in the government discloses personal information protected by the Privacy Act, that’s the way the law is,” the AG sighed in response to needling by Chair Jim Jordan.
“So you can go after a president and you get rewarded for doing so according to the Justice Department … They’re going to get a lot of money and I know that this is what they said. We know what they were up to” Jordan scoffed, feigning incredulity before cutting Garland off. “The Chair now recognizes the gentle lady from Vermont.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Attorney General Garland, for being here today,” replied Rep. Becca Ballint. “I know it’s been a very long day, and I just want to start by saying, may the record show that although I’m a Vermonter, I do not partake in cannabis products. But after today’s hearing, I could understand why someone might want to actually pop a gummy.”
Wouldn’t we all, Congresswoman!
Strzok v. Garland [Docket via Court Listener]
Page v. DOJ [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
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