Peter Strzok says he didn’t leak information about Trump-Russia probe before election

The FBI agent under fire for text messages that show his animus to President Donald Trump on Thursday testified that he never leaked the fact that the president was under investigation over his campaign’s ties to Russia.

The statement from Peter Strzok to the House Judiciary Committee is aimed at countering the notion that he sought to deny Trump the presidency.

“This information had the potential to derail, and quite possibly, defeat Mr. Trump. But the thought of exposing that information never crossed my mind.”

Strzok, who helped investigate both Hillary Clinton’s emails and Trump’s connection to Russia, maintained that the hearing itself was a “another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.”

As for his preference for Clinton to win the presidency, Strzok said his text messages “contained expressions of concern for the security of our country — opinions that were not always expressed in terms I am proud of.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation into the connections between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign after the discovery of the text messages to another agent, Lisa Page.