How did Peter Strzok's notorious text stay hidden so long?

It was the most damaging of all the damaging texts exchanged between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. On Aug. 8, 2016, in the second week of the Trump-Russia investigation on which both were working, Page texted Strzok to say, "[Trump's] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!" Strzok responded, "No. No he won't. We'll stop it."

The Justice Department gave Congress Page's "not ever going to become president" text months ago, when it produced thousands of texts to Hill investigators. But lawmakers — and the public — did not learn of the explosive second part of the exchange — Strzok's "We'll stop it" answer — until last Thursday, when Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on the Clinton email investigation was released. The newly-revealed text was devastating on its face. But it also raised eyebrows among Republicans who immediately asked why it had been not been turned over to lawmakers months ago.

"Why wasn't that given to Congress?" House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asked on Fox News the day the Horowitz report was released. "Why did I find out about that today at noon?"

Turns out there was more to the story. Horowitz didn't know about the text, either — for quite a long time. The Justice Department failed to turn it over to him, and he didn't discover it on his own until the investigation was nearly over. At hearings before the House and Senate this week, Horowitz told how he found the text, and while he pointed no fingers, his account raised questions about the Justice Department's actions.

More