TESTIMONY TEARDOWN
FBI agent defiant as Republicans claim bias in Trump investigation
A defiant FBI agent accused of bias against President Trump found himself on the receiving end of a pointed interrogation by GOP congressmen who needled him about his affair with another fed in an explosive Capitol Hill hearing yesterday
Peter Strzok, a veteran FBI counterintelligence official deeply involved in the Russia investigation of Trump’s campaign, insisted he was impartial despite his controversial August 2016 text exchange with exFBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was then having an affair. Page had texted him, “(Trump’s) not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Strzok replied, “No. No, he’s not. We’ll stop it.”
House Judiciary Chairman Bob W. Goodlatte (R-Va.) cocked an eye at Strzok’s claim of neutrality in the probes of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Trump campaign. “We don’t want to read text message after text message dripping with bias against one of the two presidential candidates,” Goodlatte said, adding that the congressional inquiry “goes to the very heart of our system of justice,” and that Strzok and other feds had turned that “on its head.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert (RTexas), referring to Strzok’s affair with Page and his denial of any bias, told the FBI agent, “I can’t help but wonder, when I see you looking there with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eyes.”
Several Democrats gasped, shouting at Gohmert, “That is outrageous!” and “Shame on you!”
Strzok struck a combative tone throughout the hearing, telling congressmen, “Today’s hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.”
Reading several of Strzok’s text messages back to him, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) accused Strzok of having an “unusual and largely self-serving” definition of bias.
“He thinks promising to stop someone he is supposed to be fairly investigating from ever becoming president isn’t bias,” Gowdy said. “Agent Strzok had Hillary Clinton winning the White House before he finished investigating her. Agent Strzok had Donald Trump impeached before he even started investigating him. That is bias. Agent Strzok may not see it, but the rest of the country does, and it is not what we want, expect or deserve from any law enforcement officer, much less the FBI.”
House Democrats accused Republicans of using Strzok to undermine special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. Strzok helped lead the FBI’s early investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. Last year, he was reassigned from Mueller’s team after the compromising texts emerged.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (DN.Y.) said the congressional focus on the “internal workings of the special counsel’s investigation” distracts from more critical questions about Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the need to protect future U.S. elections from foreign influence.
“In the majority’s view, we do not have time to conduct oversight on almost any national security issue — but we have hours on end to discuss Mr. Strzok’s extramarital affair,” Nadler said.