Ratcliffe declassified and released the full transcripts, which may have made it more difficult for prosecutors to assert the earlier reporting about the gist of the calls had harmed national security. Ratcliffe said that he had seen a text message between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that referenced a "secret society," adding, "We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of his election, there may have been a 'secret society' of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI, to include Page and Strzok, working against [Trump]." His assertion briefly went viral on pro-Trump media, and the next day Republican senator Ron Johnson claimed that Republican investigators had learned from an "informant" of meetings of a "secret society." The text message did contain the expression "secret society," but it was soon learned to be a joke related to Strzok's purchase of "beefcake" calendars of Vladimir Putin for distribution to FBI employees who had worked on the Russian investigation. Personal life Ratcliffe and his wife, Michele, live with their two daughters in Heath, Texas. See also Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel References External links Director of National Intelligence biography Money-in-Politics profile from OpenSecrets.org |- 1965 births 21st-century American politicians Dedman School of Law alumni Living people Mayors of places in Texas People from Heath, Texas People from Mount Prospect, Illinois Rejected or withdrawn nominees to the United States Executive Cabinet Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Texas lawyers Trump administration cabinet members United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Texas United States Directors of National Intelligence University of Notre Dame alumni