Law enforcement officials warily eye White House as Trump criticizes FBI
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray sent a staff-wide message Monday in the wake of fresh criticism from  President Trump   telling employees to keep focused on their mission and praising them for âexample after exampleââ of their professionalism.
On Saturday  The Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Peter Strzok  a senior counterintelligence official who played a key role in investigating both the Hillary Clinton email case and possible connections between the  Trump  campaign and the Kremlin  had been removed from his job on the special counselâs probe because of texts he exchanged with another senior FBI official.
[Top FBI officials removed from  Trump  probe amid ethics probe]
In response   Trump  tweeted over the weekend that the FBIâs reputation was âin Tatters â worst in history! But fear not  we will bring it back to greatness.ââ
Mueller is probing whether any  Trump  associates coordinated with Russian agents to try to interfere in the 2016 presidential race  and whether the president or other White House officials sought to obstruct justice in trying to end that investigation  according to people familiar with the matter. The president has long maintained he did nothing wrong  and he has called the probe a political witch hunt  saying it is Clinton  not him  who should be investigated. White House aides have repeatedly said Muellerâs probe will end soon  even though people close to the investigation have said it will last many more months  and possibly years.
The conduct by Strzok and the FBI official  a lawyer named Lisa Page  is now being investigated by the Justice Departmentâs inspector general. People familiar with the texts described the communications as disparaging of  Trump  and generally supportive of Clinton  although one of those individuals â a friend of Page â insisted the whole issue was âoverblown.ââ
One former law enforcement official joked darkly that he would be watching Sean Hannityâs broadcast on Fox News on Monday night to see if there would  in fact  be personnel moves made at the FBI or Justice Department â a reference to a moment in March when the White House decided to remove dozens of U.S. attorneys. The night before  Trump  made that move  Hannity â an informal adviser to the president â had used his program to urge the president to do that very thing.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray sent a staff-wide message Monday in the wake of fresh criticism from  President Trump   telling employees to keep focused on their mission and praising them for âexample after exampleââ of their professionalism.
On Saturday  The Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Peter Strzok  a senior counterintelligence official who played a key role in investigating both the Hillary Clinton email case and possible connections between the  Trump  campaign and the Kremlin  had been removed from his job on the special counselâs probe because of texts he exchanged with another senior FBI official.
[Top FBI officials removed from  [TGT] probe amid ethics probe]
In response    [TGT]   tweeted over the weekend that the FBIâs reputation was âin Tatters â worst in history! But fear not  we will bring it back to greatness.ââ
Mueller is probing whether any   [TGT]   associates coordinated with Russian agents to try to interfere in the 2016 presidential race  and whether the president or other White House officials sought to obstruct justice in trying to end that investigation  according to people familiar with the matter. The president has long maintained he did nothing wrong  and he has called the probe a political witch hunt  saying it is Clinton  not him  who should be investigated. White House aides have repeatedly said Muellerâs probe will end soon  even though people close to the investigation have said it will last many more months  and possibly years.
The conduct by Strzok and the FBI official  a lawyer named Lisa Page  is now being investigated by the Justice Departmentâs inspector general. People familiar with the texts described the communications as disparaging of   [TGT] and generally supportive of Clinton  although one of those individuals â a friend of Page â insisted the whole issue was âoverblown.ââ
One former law enforcement official joked darkly that he would be watching Sean Hannityâs broadcast on Fox News on Monday night to see if there would  in fact  be personnel moves made at the FBI or Justice Department â a reference to a moment in March when the White House decided to remove dozens of U.S. attorneys. The night before   [TGT] made that move  Hannity â an informal adviser to the president â had used his program to urge the president to do that very thing.