JUDGE RULES TRUMP MAY BE QUESTIONED IN LAWSUITS
Ex-FBI agents allege illegal retribution over their comments
A federal judge on Thursday ordered that former president Donald Trump and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray can be questioned under oath by attorneys for two former senior FBI employees who allege in separate lawsuits that they were illegally targeted for retribution after the FBI investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington came in consolidated lawsuits against the FBI and Justice Department by former senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who exchanged politically charged text messages criticizing Trump while they were having an affair.
Strzok seeks reinstatement and back pay over what he alleges was his unfair termination. Page alleges officials unlawfully released the trove of messages to reporters.
Jackson issued her ruling in the four-year-old lawsuits after attorneys for Strzok and Page showed they had completed interviews of lower-ranking officials and exhausted potential sources of information other than the former president and FBI director.
“The Court authorized the plaintiffs to conduct depositions of each witness that do not exceed two hours and are limited to the narrow set of topics specified,” Jackson ruled in a short court notice posted after a closed-door hearing Thursday.
Proceedings are sealed, so the substance of those depositions are secret, although Jackson said a public transcript will be released later after removing references to any deposition testimony.
Jackson gave the Justice Department until March 24 to decide whether to invoke executive privilege on Trump’s behalf to shield the confidentiality of a president’s communications with top advisers under the Constitution’s separation of powers.
Trump’s spokesperson and attorneys for Strzok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Page attorneys Amy Jeffress and Kaitlin Konkel declined to comment, as did the Justice Department and FBI.
The messages from 2016 between Strzok and Page discussed their intense dislike of Trump and their fear that he might win the presidency.
They have fueled claims that the FBI was prejudiced against Trump since they were made public in December 2017.
The exchanges have fueled scores of angry tweets and public statements by
Trump and his supporters against the pair as well as former FBI director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.
A recent interview in which Trump bragged about firing those FBI officials may have factored into the judge’s ruling.
“If I didn’t fire Comey, and if I didn’t fire McCabe and Strzok and Page and all of that scum that was in there, you would have had, they were trying to do an overthrow,” Trump said Feb. 2 on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Trump, who has announced a 2024 bid for president, added, “They spied on my campaign, and I got rid of them all . ... But ... it was more than them, and you know that. And you know that’s coming again.”
Strzok asserted in the suit that Trump’s administration tolerated partisan political speech by federal employees — but only if it praised Trump and attacked his opponents — and alleged that his removal was “part of a broader campaign against the very principle of free speech” led by the former president.
Strzok asserted in the suit that his sentiments that Trump should not be elected were “protected political speech,” and that his termination violated the First Amendment.
Both Strzok and Page also accused the FBI and Justice Department of violating the Privacy Act by showing reporters a document containing nearly 400 texts between them.