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Report: FBI Agent Axed From Russia Probe Over ‘Anti-Trump Texts’

Mueller reportedly feared the text messages could be used by Trump’s supporters to challenge the Russia investigation.

Special counsel Robert Mueller removed a senior FBI official from his team in the Russia probe after learning of anti-Trump text messages that could be used to undermine the investigation’s credibility, The Washington Post reports. Citing several sources familiar with the situation, the report says Peter Strzok, the former deputy head of counter-intelligence at the FBI, was taken off the investigation this summer over text message exchanges with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who worked for Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and was also working with Mueller. The pair, who were reportedly having an affair, had exchanged a series of text messages throughout both the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the ongoing probe into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign. Multiple sources cited in the report said these messages revealed an obvious anti-Trump bias on both sides, which Mueller feared could be used by the president’s supporters in Congress to challenge the findings of the Russia investigation. Strzok was subsequently demoted to a job in human resources, while Page left Mueller’s team in July, before the text messages surfaced, according to the report.