OIG Letter To Congress Explaining Strzok and Page Text Messaging Origin
OIG Letter To Congress Explaining Strzok and Page Text Messaging Origin
OIG Letter To Congress Explaining Strzok and Page Text Messaging Origin
Department of Justice
1. When and how did OIG become aware of the text messages between
Peter Strzok and Lisa Page?
2. When and how did OIG notify the Special Counsel Robert Mueller of
the text messages?
On July 27, 2017, upon our identification of many of the political text
messages, the Inspector General met with the Deputy Attorney General and the
Special Counsel to inform them of the texts that we had discovered, and provided
them with a significant number of the texts, so that they could take any
management action they deemed appropriate.
3. Did OIG refer these allegations to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel
to pursue a potential Hatch Act inquiiy? If not, why not?
The Hatch Act, and its associated regulations, identify authorized and
prohibited political activities for most executive department employees, including
FBI employees. The Hatch Act permits expressions of personal opinions about
candidates and issues. In contrast, political activity, which is defined as "activity
directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan
political office, or partisan political group" is prohibited in certain contexts. We
are cognizant of these issues and will determine whether there is a basis to refer
the allegations, along with relevant evidence we have gathered, regarding Page's
and Strzok's text messages to the Office of Special Counsel upon completion of
our review.
4. In connection with the OIG's review of the actions of DOJ and the
FBI in advance of the 2016 presidential election, has the OIG received any similar
allegations involving other government officials?
Thank you for your continued support for the work of my Office. If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate contact me or Greg Sabina, my
Advisor for Legislative Affairs, at (202) 514-3435.
Sincerely,
Michael E. Horowitz
Inspector General