New Wall Street Journal report might totally destroy Republicans' favorite anti-FBI talking point

A new report from the Wall Street Journal adds some needed context to FBI Agent Peter Strzok's text message about the Russia investigation being an "insurance policy" in the event that Donald Trump won last year's presidential election.

According to the Journal's sources, Strzok's talk of an "insurance policy" against Trump's electoral victory "was meant to convey that the bureau needed to aggressively investigate allegations of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia," and was not intended to "suggest a secret plan to harm the candidate but rather address a colleague who believed the [FBI] could take its time because Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was certain to win the election."

In the original text message, which was sent to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Strzok wrote of Trump that, "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — 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."

The text message had been seized upon by Republicans who suggested it revealed an agency-wide conspiracy to bring down Trump in the event of his election. According to the Journal's account, however, it seems that Strzok was sincerely concerned about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian agents, and wanted to pursue an investigation regardless of who won the 2016 presidential election.

Strzok was originally part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team, but he was removed by Mueller this past summer after the special counsel discovered that the FBI agent had disparaged Trump as an "idiot" in text messages.