Trump blames Samsung for missing texts between FBI agent, lawyer

NEW YORK Daily News 

President Trump used his morning tweets on Tuesday to claim victory over Democrats in the government shutdown. (CAROLYN KASTER/AP)

President Trump pinned the blame for scores of missing text messages between two romancing FBI agents on the tech giant Samsung Tuesday, calling the glitch “one of the biggest stories in a long time.”

In his latest attack on the bureau’s credibility, Trump targeted FBI agent Peter Strzok and lawyer Lisa Page, who were in a relationship and criticized Trump as a presidential candidate.

“In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI says it is now missing five months worth of lovers Strzok - Page texts, perhaps 50,000, all in prime time. Wow!” Trump wrote.

His rant continued into the night Tuesday by charging the South Korean conglomerate for the missing dispatches.

“Blaming Samsung,” Trump tweeted.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Regardless, Trump may have overstated the number of lost messages.

The Justice Department said that 50,000 is the total number of messages on FBI servers.

Hundreds of texts between Strzok and Page, who were engaged in an affair, were released last month.

The pair were kicked off of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe following the discovery of overtly political exchanges on their phones — including disparaging remarks about Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Trump called that text a “treasonous act” last month.

Strzok, who was a lead counterintelligence official and was involved in the Hillary Clinton email probe, and Page criticized other candidates as well.

On Friday, the FBI released additional texts to Congress and told lawmakers that a technical system glitch caused messages between December 2016 and May 2017 to not have been properly stored.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Congress that many Samsung 5 mobile devices used by the agency failed to “capture or store text messages due to misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBI’s collection capabilities,” according to a letter he wrote.  

Republicans have raged over the missing messages, with some accusing the FBI of intentionally deleting them.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) shared additional texts from Strzok and Page on Tuesday.

He noted during an appearance on a Milwaukee radio show that Strzok appeared to doubt Mueller’s probe would uncover any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

“You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there,” Strzok wrote.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that the Inspector General’s office is investigating the missing text.

Trump also used his morning missives to crow over the end of the government shutdown in which Democrats “caved” and to blast a CNN reporter.

“Even Crazy Jim Acosta of Fake News CNN agrees: ‘Trump World and WH sources dancing in end zone: Trump wins again...Schumer and Dems caved...gambled and lost.’ Thank you for your honesty Jim!” he posted.

The tweet came the day after news that a Michigan man was arrested earlier this month for calling CNN’s headquarters and threatening mass killings of those at the network because they were “fake news.”