A compilation of the highs and lows since Trump was officially sworn in on January 20, 2017.
Donald Trump has raised questions about how a cache of text messages sent by two FBI officials accused of being out to get the President went missing.
Tweeting on Tuesday morning, Trump said the disappearance of five months of communications between the two FBI officials was "one of the biggest stories in a long time".
The exchanges between the two agents — who were also lovers — has given rise to a shadowy deep state conspiracy theory that involves claims of a "secret society" designed to bring down the President.
In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time. Wow!
At the centre of this story is FBI investigator Peter Strzok. (His last name is pronounced like "struck".) He was a distinguished agent, having been appointed the deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division and chosen to lead the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to sway the 2016 election in his favour.
He was also the lead investigator on Hillary Clinton's controversial use of her personal email server as secretary of state to handle classified information.
Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Photo / Fox News
Strzok was removed from the investigation in July when private texts came to light that he exchanged with Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer also involved in the Russia probe with whom he was having an extramarital affair.
The texts — sent throughout the presidential campaign — included pointed criticisms of Trump and gave rise to the allegation that the FBI was biased against him.
Strzok was also instrumental in toning down the FBI's judgment on Clinton's email drama.
Instead of having then FBI director James Comey say that Clinton's conduct was "grossly negligent" — which could have led to criminal charges — he softened the language to describe her as "extremely careless".
Page left the Russia probe before the text messages came to light.
WHAT IS IN THE TEXTS?
While Republicans claim the texts provide evidence of anti-Trump bias, Strzok and Page made disparaging remarks about political figures of all stripes in their acid-tongued exchanges.
In August 2015, Page wrote: "I just saw my first Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. Made me want to key the car."
Strzok replied: "He's an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out."
In March 2016, Page texted: "God Trump is a loathsome human … This man cannot be president."
On election day in November of 2016, Strzok wrote: "OMG, THIS IS ****ing TERRIFYING."
Peter Strzok investigated Hillary Clinton's email scandal. Photo / AP
Another text Strzok sent in August 2016 raised eyebrows because it mentioned an "insurance policy", which many Republicans interpreted as an effort within the FBI to stop Trump from winning the election.
"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration … that there's no way he gets elected — but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40," he wrote.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Strzok meant that the FBI could take its time in investigating the Trump campaign because he believed Clinton was certain to win the election, according to people familiar with Strzok's version of events.
In another exchange, Strzok appeared to say that he did not believe the Russia probe would uncover any bombshell evidence against Trump.
"You and I both know the odds are nothing," he wrote.
"If I thought it was likely, I'd be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there's no big there there."
HOW DID THE OTHER TEXTS GO MISSING?
The Justice Department revealed to politicians last week that additional text messages sent by Strzok and Page between December 14, 2016, and May 17, 2017 had gone missing.
The department said a technical glitch meant the messages had not been automatically stored on the FBI's servers.
As the President pointed out in his text, the timing is significant because it covers the period from the presidential transition to when Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate the Trump campaign's alleged links to Russia.
Attorney-General Jeff Sessions says the investigation into the missing texts will leave 'no stone unturned'. Photo / AP
The department has now launched an investigation into the missing texts.
Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said the department would "leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are not now available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source".
"If any wrongdoing were to be found to have caused this gap, appropriate legal disciplinary action measures will be taken," he added.
It's worth noting that Trump overstated in his tweet how many texts went missing.
The President suggested that the number of missing messages was "perhaps 50,000", but the department says that was the overall number of messages found on FBI servers.
Another intriguing tidbit from the texts is the allegation that Strzok and Page referred to a "secret society" on the day after Trump was elected.
"We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of [Trump's] election, that there may have been a secret society of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI — to include Page and Strzok — that would be working against him," Republican congressman John Ratcliffe told Fox News on Monday.
"I'm not saying that actually happened, but when folks speak in those terms, they need to come forward to explain the context with which they used those terms."
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Photo / AP
Ratcliffe did not provide any more detail about the "secret society" text.
ALLEGATION OF BIAS
Republicans and right-wing media have seized on the texts to discredit the FBI's Russia investigation and to call for the firing of FBI director Chris Wray and special counsel Robert Mueller.
After former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russians, Trump tweeted that the FBI was "rigged".
Republican congressman Bob Goodlatte is among those who argue there is a "magnitude of insider bias" on Mueller's team.
Republican senator Ron Johnson told a Wisconsin radio show that the Strzok-Page texts were "jaw-dropping".
President Donald Trump says the missing text messages is 'one of the biggest stories in a long time'. Photo / AP
"Again, texts between two people having an extramarital affair, and they're completely unguarded in their communication," he said. "And so we're getting insight into exactly what's happening inside the FBI at the highest levels."
However, former FBI agents who spoke to Business Insider described Strzok as a professional who did not express political opinions at work.
The controversy over the texts came as Sessions and former FBI director James Comey were questioned by Mueller's investigation.
The probe will next turn its attention to Trump, with the Washington Post reporting that Mueller wants to question the President in coming weeks.
