FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, whose text messages revealed a key role in promoting the Clinton campaign’s Russia collusion narrative, filed suit against the Department of Justice over the release of their communications. The pair alleged that the publication of their messages, which were sent using government devices, constituted a violation of their privacy rights. Despite the controversy, both Strzok and Page received sizable financial settlements from the Biden administration—Strzok was awarded $1.2 million in taxpayer funds, while Page secured an $800,000 payout.
Newly reviewed documents, obtained exclusively by The Federalist, indicate that the official who approved these settlements later joined an organization dedicated to opposing President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders through legal challenges.
“We have identified Brian Netter, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, as the individual that approved the settlement agreements,” a DOJ representative told the Center to Advance Security in America in response to a 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. At the time of the settlements, Netter oversaw the Federal Programs Branch at the DOJ under President Joe Biden.
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After leaving the DOJ in early 2025, Netter became the legal director at Democracy Forward, a group aligned with Democratic interests and formed in 2017 to counter Trump through litigation. The organization boasts of having sued Trump over 100 times during his first term and continues to challenge his administration in his second term. “Liberal Legal Group Positions Itself as a Top Trump Administration Foe,” The New York Timesheadlined in a November article.
Democracy Forward’s board is chaired by Marc Elias, the attorney who managed legal strategies for both the 2016 and 2020 Democratic campaigns. As general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, Elias authorized payments for the research behind the Russia collusion claims. The Clinton team routed these funds through Elias’s law firm and labeled them as “legal services” to obscure their origin. The Federal Election Commission later fined Clinton $113,000 for misrepresenting the spending.
Elias also led Democratic legal efforts during the 2020 election, particularly the expansion of unsupervised mail-in voting initiatives, which were coordinated through nonprofit groups aligned with the party.
Democracy Forward’s board also includes several prominent Democratic figures: former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, ex-Biden Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, Vice President Kamala Harris’ sister Maya Harris, and Mindy Myers, who previously led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
As part of its in-depth publication on the matter, The Federalist reports Netter served in Merrick Garland’s Justice Department from 2021 to 2025. He was involved in legal efforts opposing Trump’s attempt to block the National Archives from sharing documents with the January 6 committee—an effort comprised solely of members selected by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In 2009, Garland officiated Netter’s wedding to Democrat attorney and political strategist Karen Dunn. Dunn was a top adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and was considered a front-runner for White House Counsel had Clinton won the presidency. She also led debate preparations for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection, Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential run.
Dunn co-founded a law firm with Jeannie Rhee, a former member of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team. The firm also employed Rush Atkinson, another alumnus of the Mueller investigation. Dunn previously clerked for both Garland and Justice Stephen Breyer, while Netter also clerked for Breyer and Judge Judith Rogers.
Lawmakers seeking accountability for the settlements to Strzok and Page encountered resistance from officials who initially claimed ignorance about who authorized the payments and refused to answer congressional inquiries.
“The American people are rightly concerned about the Biden Administration’s targeting of conservatives while their political allies were given special treatment,” said James Fitzpatrick, director of the Center to Advance Security in America. “These settlements are a prime example of the outrageous abuse of power endured by the American people under Joe Biden.”
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