Lisa Page says Trump tweet attacks are ‘like being punched in the gut’
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page opened up about the criticism she has received from President Trump in an interview published on Sunday, revealing that “It’s like being punched in the gut,” whenever he tweets about her.
Page, who bashed Trump in text messages to her special-agent boyfriend, told The Daily Beast that she finally decided to speak out after the president acted out a fake orgasm to mock her texts with Peter Strzok during an October rally in Minneapolis.
“Honestly, his demeaning fake orgasm was really the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she told the website.
“I had stayed quiet for years hoping it would fade away, but instead it got worse,” she said.
“It had been so hard not to defend myself, to let people who hate me control the narrative. I decided to take my power back.”
Page also stressed that she had not done anything wrong, despite the president’s allegations.
A Justice Department Inspector General report into allegations by Trump that the FBI spied on his 2016 campaign is expected to be released Dec. 9.
“While it would be nice to have the IG confirm publicly that my personal opinions had absolutely no bearing on the course of the Russia investigations, I don’t kid myself that the fact will matter very much for a lot of people,” she said, referring to the allegations made by Trump.
“The president has a very loud megaphone.”
Page likened Trump’s attacks on her to “being punched in the gut.”
“My heart drops to my stomach when I realize he has tweeted about me again. The president of the United States is calling me names to the entire world. He’s demeaning me and my career. It’s sickening.”
Page was thrust into the public eye in December 2017 when the Department of Justice released hundreds of text messages between her and Peter Strzok, which showed the pair mocking Trump and his supporters — calling the then-candidate a “disaster.”
Strzok was the lead investigator into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and Hillary Clinton’s use of her personal email server. Page resigned from the department in May 2018.
Strzok was demoted to the FBI’s Human Resources Division after their anti-Trump texts came to light.