President Donald Trump called out MSNBC after the news broke that they were hiring former Federal Bureau of Investigation attorney Lisa Page as part of their network of contributors.
Page formerly worked at the Department of Justice and under former special prosecutor Robert Mueller when he investigated the Trump campaign on the issue of Russian collusion. Page and her significant other, Peter Strzok, came under fire after text messages between the pair caused concern that portions of the DOJ had worked against Trump while he was running for the highest office in the land.
Both Page and Strzok were fired from the FBI, but Page appears to have landed on her feet several years since her termination with her debut as an analyst for the major network.
According to Fox News, Page made her maiden appearance on Deadline: White House where she was welcomed to the network, alongside former co-worker Andrew Weissman, who also previously worked under Mueller.
The pair both offered legal analysis on the issue of Trump’s ongoing tiff with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over the additional law enforcement officers in the city.
JUST ANNOUNCED: @MSNBC welcomes Former FBI Lawyer @NatSecLisa as an NBC News & MSNBC National Security & Legal Analyst. pic.twitter.com/cubW4jCQFm
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) June 5, 2020
Trump reacted to the news, saying via Twitter that the network hiring Page for legal analysis was a “total disgrace.” The president’s frustration with Page is hardly the first time he has mentioned her in his tweets, however. Trump and Page have had a contentious relationship since her text messages with Strzok became part of public record.
However, Page’s contribution to MSNBC isn’t the first time she has appeared on the network, and her previous appearance had something to do with Trump as well.
Trump tweeted about Page last December, saying that the former FBI employee wasn’t as “crushed” as she made herself out to be and cited several of Page’s texts with Strzok as proof.
That message, combined with the president commenting on her as part of one of his campaign rally speeches, is what Page cited as the reason she decided to go on the network, appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show, to tell her side of the story.
Shortly after Trump’s tweet, Page spoke with Rachel Maddow and explained the now-infamous “insurance policy” text message, among others.
“It’s an analogy,” Page explained.
“We’re talking about whether or not we should take certain investigative steps or not based on the likelihood that he’s going to be president or not.”
Lisa Page ( @NatSecLisa ) says there were plenty of ways for the DOJ to fulfill their congressionally mandated oversight responsibility “without politicizing our messages, without shoveling them out in the way that they did.” pic.twitter.com/KU213vKZ2k
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) December 18, 2019
Page’s first analysis for the network was on a topic that has been high on Trump’s priority list. The president’s ongoing feud with Bowser concerning the presence of outside police forces has escalated in recent days, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
While Trump insists that the extra security has been needful in the wake of ongoing protesting, Bowser has taken a stand against them, going so far as to revoke the city’s support of the National Guard troops, forcing them to find accommodations not provided by the city.