Juan Williams Isn’t Troubled by Strzok and Page Texts: They Were Joking Around

WALLACE: Juan, you have to admit that some of the Strzok, Page texts that we’ve been reading over the last few weeks are troubling, especially when Peter Strzok was the lead FBI investigator, both in the Clinton case and in the Trump case.

WILLIAMS: Come on, Chris, they — people have personal opinions. You and I have personal opinions. I think we come out here and try to do an honest job.

WALLACE: Wait, wait, you’re not at all troubled by those texts?

WILLIAMS: Well, first of all — no, be — remember, they’re lovers. So this is like pillow talk between two people who have personal opinions. I don’t know that it has impacted their capacity to lead at investigation.

What I see here is a repeated effort coming from the right. They throw spitballs at the wall trying to somehow disparage the FBI, discredit Robert Mueller. Don’t forget, they’re —

WALLACE: How — how about when Peter Strzok —

WILLIAMS: Trump — Trump not only tried —

WALLACE: How about when Peter Strzok —

WILLIAMS: Has fired Comey —

WALLACE: Well, wait —

WILLIAMS: Gone after these people.

WALLACE: OK, I’m not talking about that. How about when Peter —

WILLIAMS: Now, this week, he’s trying to fire Mueller.

WALLACE: How about when Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are saying, well, let’s not go into that Clinton investigation loaded for bear.

WILLIAMS: Well, wait a second, they’re talking. It’s like you and me joking saying, hey, Chris, President Trump, we wish, would come on — and on this show and then —

WALLACE: I’m not joking, I’m serious.

WILLIAMS: I know. I know. But I’m saying we wish. But I’m saying — and I say, Chris, well, you know what, if you want him to come back, maybe we shouldn’t ravage him this time. That’s a joke between Juan and Chris. That’s not an indication of how you’re actually going to conduct the interview.

But this is, again, discredit the FBI because they’re worried that Mueller, in fact, it’s going to find something. That’s what’s going on —

CHAFFETZ: He started to draft the memo before they’d interviewed 16 people.

WILLIAMS: There was no basis at that point to charge her. So they go into the interview and they say, well, this is what we know at this point. But you guys want to make it into some paranoid — I mean I got to —

CHAFFETZ: Trey Gowdy was crystal clear about his feelings.