FBI agent Strzok co-wrote initial draft of Comey letter reopening Clinton email probe, report says

close

Video

New questions over Peter Strzok's role in Clinton probe

Report: FBI agent helped James Comey craft letter reopening Clinton email investigation.

One of the FBI agents behind various anti-Trump texts helped co-write the first draft of a letter that former FBI Director James Comey sent to Congress announcing that the FBI was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private use of a email server, according to emails obtained by CNN.

Comey’s announcement, just days before the 2016 election, came after classified emails were discovered on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Weiner’s estranged wife, Huma Abedin, was a top Clinton aide during her presidential campaign. His laptop was seized during an investigation into his communications with an underage teenager.

Peter Strzok, who is the focus of Republicans’ claims that there was a bias against then presidential candidate Donald Trump, supposedly co-wrote the first draft that eventually laid the foundation for Comey’s bombshell letter, new emails revealed.

In an Oct. 27, 2016, email, Strzok wrote that he and another FBI agent drafted the first version of a letter meant to inform Congress of the bureau’s decision to reopen the case. Two more emails with corrections were exchanged, CNN confirmed.

Comey sent the final letter to Congress on Oct. 28, 2016.

Strzok was having an extramarital relationship with FBI official Lisa Page. Released text messages between the two showed them anti-Trump sentiments during the Clinton investigations and while both were working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian influence over the 2016 election.

Both were removed from Mueller’s team after the texts were discovered.

Two sources told CNN that texts between Strzok and Page on Nov. 6, 2016, show them discussing making a public statement. The two did not describe which statement they were referring to, CNN said, but that same day, Comey sent another letter to Congress to close the Clinton inquiry -- two days before the election.

According to the CNN report, Stzrok's attorney declined to comment on the draft statements and related text messages.

Despite working on the controversial letter that may have hurt Clinton just days before the election, new texts showed that Strzok “harbored reservations” about Comey’s announcement and timing, CNN reported Wednesday, citing two sources.

Republicans have argued that texts between Strzok and Page show clear bias in the FBI’s investigations into Clinton’s use of the email server and Russia’s involvement in the election.