'S--- just got real': DOJ watchdog uncovers pro-Trump text messages between FBI agents after 2016 election

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'S--- just got real': DOJ watchdog uncovers pro-Trump text messages between FBI agents after 2016 election
President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter while participating in a

Reuters

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U.S. President Donald Trump.

  • The Justice Department's watchdog uncovered a series of text messages between two FBI agents cheerleading President Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 election.
  • "Trump!" an FBI handling agent said.
  • "Hahaha. S--- just got real," a co-handling agent replied. "Yes it did," the handling agent said.
  • The co-handling agent responded, "I saw a lot of scared MFers on...[my way to work] this morning. Start looking for new jobs fellas. Haha."
  • The texts were revealed in inspector general Michael Horowitz's highly anticipated report on the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation. The report debunked many of Trump's conspiracy theories about what he claimed was anti-Trump bias among top brass at the FBI and Justice Department.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, uncovered a series of text messages between two FBI agents expressing support for President Donald Trump right after the 2016 US election.

In his report Monday on the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation, Horowitz detailed how a handling agent and co-handling agent exchanged texts on November 9, 2016, rejoicing over Trump's victory the previous day.

"Trump!" the handling agent said.

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"Hahaha. S--- just got real," the co-handling agent replied.

"Yes it did," the handling agent said.

The co-handling agent responded, "I saw a lot of scared MFers on...[my way to work] this morning. Start looking for new jobs fellas. Haha."

Horowitz's report, which was highly anticipated by both Democrats and Republicans, debunked many of Trump's conspiracy theories about what he claimed was anti-Trump bias among top brass at the FBI and Justice Department.

According to the report:

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  • The FBI had an "authorized purpose" to launch the Russia investigation.
  • The bureau's use of confidential informants complied with the rules.
  • There is no "documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open the four individual investigations" into Trump campaign aides George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
  • There were "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the Page FISA applications, and FBI agents "failed to meet the basic obligation" to make sure the applications were "scrupulously accurate."
    • "We do not speculate whether the correction of any particular misstatement or omissions, or some combination thereof, would have resulted in a different outcome," the report said. "Nevertheless, the department's decision makers and the court should have been given complete and accurate information so that they could meaningfully evaluate probable cause before authorizing the surveillance of a US person associated with a presidential campaign."
  • There is no "documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page."

The Russia investigation, spearheaded first by former FBI director James Comey and later by the special counsel Robert Mueller, found that President Donald Trump's campaign enthusiastically welcomed Russian interference in the 2016 election, but there was not sufficient evidence to bring a conspiracy charge against anyone on the campaign.

It also found over 10 instances in which Trump tried to obstruct justice in the investigation, but that he was largely unsuccessful because his own staff refused to carry out his orders. Mueller declined to make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether to charge Trump, citing a 1973 Office of Legal Counsel memo that said a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed Horowitz to launch an internal investigation into the origins of the Russia probe after Trump and his allies accused the FBI of acting improperly when it sought a warrant to surveil Page during and after the election. The president also alleged that the FBI "spied" on his campaign, dubbing the purported scandal, "Spygate."

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