Two top FBI officials who worked with Comey leave the bureau, report says
Two key FBI aides who worked closely with fired former FBI Director James Comey have left the FBI, according to The New York Times. One of the officials, according to the Times, is Lisa Page, who had worked on the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, and -- for a time -- special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates.
Page has been criticized by conservatives for text messages she exchanged with fellow FBI official Peter Strzok, some of which were anti-Trump in nature. Page left the special counsel's team last year, returning to the FBI in mid-July.
The other top FBI official who has left the bureau is James Baker, who worked as general counsel before Christopher Wray took over the bureau. Baker confirmed his resignation to CBS News, saying he will begin working on Monday at the Brookings Institution, writing for its national security blog Lawfare.
The Times reports the departures were unrelated. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked the FBI over the Russia probe, as well as over what he sees as a failure by the DOJ and FBI to hand over documents to Congress and over FBI agents' raids on his lawyer Michael Cohen's home and office. Mr. Trump continues to call the Russia investigation a "witch hunt," and has pointed out concerns such as the anti-Trump texts exchanged between Page and Strzok in an attempt to make his case. On Friday, Mr. Trump claimed all the investigators on Mueller's team are "Democrats."
Still, Mr. Trump said Friday he would "love" to speak with Mueller, if he thinks it will be a fair conversation.
"Well, the problem with sitting is this: You have a group of investigators, and they say that I am not a target," Mr. Trump said before departing for a speech for the National Rifle Association in Dallas. "And I'm not a target. But you have a group of investigators that are all Democrats. In some cases, they went to the Hillary Clinton celebration that turned out to be a funeral. So you have all these investigators; they're Democrats. In all fairness, Bob Mueller worked for Obama for eight years."