FBI officials considered naming special prosecutor for Clinton emails: report

FBI officials considered appointing a special prosecutor to oversee a probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Politico reported Thursday.

Texts between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page show that former U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was considered for the probe’s team.

{mosads}”Thought of the perfect person [FBI Director James Comey] can bounce this off of?” Strzok said in a March 2016 text to Page. “Pat….You got to give me credit if we go with him….And delay briefing him on until I can get back and do it, Late next week or later.”

“We talked about him last night, not for this, but how great he is,” Page responded.

“I could work with him again….And damn we’d get sh-t DONE,” Strzok replied.

Politico noted that the idea of naming a special prosecutor for the case appeared to have been discussed at meetings among top FBI officials, but it’s unclear how seriously Fitzgerald was considered for the job.

Fitzgerald did not immediately return Politico’s request for comment.

Former FBI Director James Comey tapped Fitzgerald to lead the probe into the identification of CIA agent Valerie Plame. The then-Chicago U.S. attorney ultimately charged Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby with false statements and obstruction of justice.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked FBI Director Christopher Wray in a letter Thursday whether the bureau had ever requested the Department of Justice to appoint a special prosecutor, and “If not, why not?”

This revelation comes after Republicans raised questions over whether an anti-Trump “secret society” existed at the Department of Justice and FBI, based off a fragment from Strzok and Page’s texts.

However, the entire text referring to the “secret society” was revealed earlier this week, and GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), who had promoted the concept, said there was a “real possibility” that the text was a joke.