Two FBI Officials with Close Ties to Comey Are Out
Two officials who were close to former FBI Director James Comey are no longer with the FBI, according to a Fox News report.
Jim Baker who had been linked to the infamous Trump dossier of unverified allegations against President Donald Trump, was praised by Comey in a tweet.
“A great public servant retired from the FBI today. Jim Baker’s integrity and commitment to the rule of law have benefitted our country through 5 presidents, of both parties. We are fortunate he and so many others choose to devote their lives to justice,” Comey tweeted.
Baker had been under investigation by the Justice Department for leaking classified information from the Trump dossier.
“I love the F.B.I.,” he said to The New York Times about his departure. “I have tremendous respect for the bureau — the F.B.I. was great, is great and will be great.”
Baker may join the Brookings Institute after leaving the FBI, Fox reported.
The other FBI official to depart was identified as Lisa Page, who was involved in a controversy over text messages she exchanged with an FBI co-worker Peter Strzok. The messages disparaged Trump and praised Comey.
The text messages called into question the impartiality of the FBI investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign given the fact that the two FBI agents both served on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. In fact, Mueller’s discovery of the text messages between Strzok and Page led him to kick the two off the Russia probe earlier last year.
An FBI spokesperson told Fox News that Page had resigned to “pursue other opportunities.”
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Twelve days after Trump took a commanding delegate lead thanks to his victories in the Super Tuesday primaries — which were held on March 1, 2016 — Page expressed her disbelief that there was a chance Trump might be elected.
“I can not believe Donald Trump is likely to be an actual, serious candidate for president,” she wrote, according to Fox News.
Page was also involved in Comey’s decision to announce to the public that Clinton would not be prosecuted over her use of a private email server. Fox News reported that Page and Strzok exchanged texts extensively about the investigation.
In a message dated Sept. 2, 2016 — just two months before Election Day — Page wrote to Strzok about getting then-FBI Director James Comey ready to brief former President Barack Obama.
Page’s reasoning was that “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.” Fox News noted that according to a Senate report, “this text raises questions about Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation.”
The Times reported that Baker and Page’s resignations were not related.
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