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(CNN) - Almost two years after her text messages against Donald Trump were revealed to Congress and she became a public target of the president's anger, Lisa Page said it's time to break her silence.
The besieged undercover of the FBI reappeared on Twitter on Sunday night when in his account he posted a message that said "Enough is enough to keep quiet," next to the link of an interview he gave to the website The Daily Beast . In that conversation, Page called Trump's attacks "disgusting" and said he decided to speak after the president made a lewd reference about his message exchanges with former FBI agent Peter Strzok, with whom she had an affair, during a Minnesota rally in October. The president has frequently criticized the series of messages in which Page and Strzok spoke badly of the then presidential candidate. This Monday, Trump attacked Page again, hinting at a tweet that reads the communications he had with Strzok.
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"I had been silent for years waiting for this to disappear, but instead it has worsened," Page said. “It had been so difficult not to defend myself and let the people who hate me control the narrative. I have decided to regain my power. ”
He added: “It's like receiving a fist in the stomach. My heart falls to my stomach when I realize that he has tweeted about me again, ”he said referring to Trump. “The president of the United States is insulting me in front of everyone. It is degrading me and my career. It's disgusting".
Page's comments come before the report of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice on FBI surveillance in his initial investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 elections, which must be submitted on December 9. Page and Strzok were also involved in the FBI's inquiry into the handling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and served on the team of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. Strzok was fired from the team once text messages were discovered by internal investigations. Page resigned after said communications were known.
CNN previously reported that the report is expected to indicate that Russia's investigation was successfully started in the summer of 2016, but lower-level employees made a series of mistakes. Page said his expectation is that the report shows that she acted professionally without prejudice against the president.
"Although it would be good for the inspector general to publicly confirm that my personal opinions had absolutely no relation to the course of the investigations on Russia, I am not deceived because that fact will be very important for many people," Page said. "The president has a very loud megaphone," he completed.
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“But it's also very intimidating because he is still the president of the United States. And when the president accuses you of treason by your own name, even though I know there is no understandable way that I have committed a crime, let alone betrayal, he is still someone in a position to do something about it. Try to destroy my life even more. It never disappears or stops, even when it is not attacking me publicly, ”he insisted.
A previous investigation by the inspector general last year evaluated the controversial texts of Page with Strzok. That report concluded that his messages "threw a cloud" about the inquiry of Clinton's emails, which they both handled, but did not allow their political opinions to affect their decision-making.
In 2018, Page spoke with lawmakers behind closed doors about text messages. Republican congressmen praised her testimony and called her "a very credible witness." Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who has since stopped supporting Trump, congratulated Page on Monday for speaking.
“There are many people who are still in the president's network who feel exactly the same as Lisa Page. I applaud Lisa Page for doing that, ”Scaramucci said with Alisyn Camerota of CNN on“ New Day. ” "But I also understand why he didn't do it before because it is intimidating until it ceases to be."
Marshall Cohen and Laura Jarrett of CNN contributed to this report.
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