Attorney General Jeff Sessions is "so pleased" at the recovery of five months' worth of missing messages exchanged by a pair of FBI officials accused of bias against President Donald Trump, DOJ Public Affairs Spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said Thursday afternoon.
"The attorney general is so pleased that the work of the inspector general, getting these phones and starting the process of recovering these text messages," Flores told Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime" host Harris Faulkner. "The inspector general just a few moments ago said he has recovered text messages and that process will continue."
Until Thursday, the archiving system had not gotten the text messages exchanged between FBI agent Peter Strzok and agency attorney Lisa Page, as the FBI said they were missing due to a tech glitch.
"We hope to turn over additional text messages to Congress once the inspector general recovers them," Flores told Faulkner.
In a letter to several key Republican lawmakers, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office "succeeded in using forensic tools" to recover messages exchanged by Strzok and Page, who were reportedly romantically involved at the time.
The texts were sent between December 2016 and May 2017, a period that covers several vital months in Trump's presidency, including his transition period, his first months in office, and the time when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
Meanwhile, it's important to wait for Horowitz and his office to finish the investigation into the FBI and the roles of the two officials, said Flores.
"He doesn't just have the text messages, he also has interviewed people, has additional documents," Flores said. "We want to wait for that process to be complete. What the attorney general has made very clear is that we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to recovering these missing text messages and if there is any wrongdoing found, he will take the legal or disciplinary action available."