FBI agent ordered to testify in House
Anti-Trump texts face GOP scrutiny
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Tuesday for former top FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok’s public testimony next week, after Strzok’s lawyer accused the panel of subjecting his client to “Kabuki theater” and threatened not to show up.
The subpoena is an attempt to force Strzok to appear before the committee next Tuesday, a day which Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman, has already said he is not available. In a statement, Goelman said that Strzok would testify publicly at some point but would not commit to doing so on that date or before the Judiciary Committee.
“If the committees were actually interested in making sure the American people knew the truth, they would release the transcript of Pete’s previous testimony,” Goelman said.
“Pete wants the American people to hear his testimony for themselves, instead of having his words leaked, twisted and mischaracterized by members of Congress. The only question is when and before what committee.”
Strzok has come under scrutiny for a series of texts he sent to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair. The texts included disparaging comments about then-candidate Donald Trump and his supporters, and included one message in which Strzok told Page that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president.
Trump has criticized Strzok on Twitter as “the leader of the Rigged Witch Hunt for a long period of time.” Strzok served briefly on the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller but was removed after his text messages were discovered.
During a private questioning last week, Strzok told lawmakers that his personal political opinions never had any effect on the FBI’s investigations into then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server or the possibility of Russian ties to the Trump campaign, probes in which he played a leading role. Republicans said the argument that bias could not have influenced the investigations is implausible.
Strzok is undergoing internal review at the FBI over his conduct.
In a sharply-worded email to committee counsels, Goelman wrote that it was “generous to characterize many of these inquiries as ‘questions’” — suggesting instead that the GOP’s private queries had been “political theater and attempts to embarrass the witness” through various leaks.
Among the questions Goelman complained Republicans put to Strzok were one about whether he loved Page, and another asking “what DO Trump supporters SMELL like, Agent?” — a reference to an August 2016 text Strzok sent in which he told Page he could “SMELL the Trump support” at a Walmart in southern Virginia.
In his email, Goelman also accused Republican members of the panel of trying to “trap” Strzok with a public hearing that they initially denied him until he first spoke to members privately.
“We know what’s in store — in the next hearing they will ask Special Agent Strzok many of the same questions … and then seize on any tiny inconsistencies to ‘prove’ that he perjured himself or made false statements,” Goelman wrote.
“Given that the Committee has proven it is playing political games, violating both our trust and its own rules, it no longer makes sense for us to keep playing along.”
Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., responded by issuing the subpoena for Strzok’s testimony. Though the scheduled July 10 hearing will involve both the House Judiciary and the Oversight and Government Reform committees, only the Judiciary Committee issued the subpoena.
Information for this article was contributed by Billy House of Bloomberg News.