FBI’s Strzok Lashes Out at GOP During Hearing

“No, this is my time“, Gohmert said angrily to Cicilline.

Strzok’s anti-Trump text messages became the focus of congressional investigators who believe his personal bias affected his handling of the Clinton email investigation and the Russian Federation collusion counterintelligence investigations.

“I think millions of Americans understand that”, said Goodlate.

But when they returned from recess, Mr. Gowdy again asked Mr. Strzok how many witnesses he interviewed before concluding Mr. Trump’s impeachment. He was removed from the investigation in 2017 after those text messages with fellow FBI employee Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, were discovered.

The incident was one of several occasions throughout the hours-long hearing that Strzok faced personal attacks from Republicans including Gohmert, as well as Jim Jordan of Ohio, Trey Gowdy of SC and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.

It’s worth noting that Goodlatte’s justification – that the committee’s investigation is ongoing – was the same one Strzok offered for not answering questions about the special counsel’s Russian Federation probe.

“The point of order is not taken”, Goodlatte said. Goodlatte eventually let the hearing proceed without calling the panel into recess.

Strzok was testifying in front of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, where Republicans peppered him with questions about anti-Donald Trump texts he sent to another Federal Bureau of Investigation official, with whom he was having an affair.

Page told investigators that she and Strzok were having an affair, according to a Justice Department Inspector General’s report about the Clinton email investigation, and that they used their work devices to hide that from their spouses.

In a testy hearing full of heated exchanges, perhaps the most memorable – at least, in the early hours of what is sure to be an emotionally charged, all-day hearing – was one between former FBI Agent Peter Strzok and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy.

This prompted Gohmert in turn to raise his voice, turn to Strzok and say, “No, the disgrace is what this man has done to our justice system”.

Striking a valiant pose, Strzok claimed that the text was written in defense of Muslim Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who had been criticized by then-candidate Trump during the 2016 election.

Strzok’s work at the FBI became the subject of intense political battles in Congress after The Washington Post reported in December he and Page, who had been involved in a romantic relationship, were under investigation by the inspector general over their texts.

The hearing immediately got off to a contentious start Thursday, with Republicans slamming Strzok and Democrats warning their colleagues not to interfere with Mueller’s investigation. As the hearing began, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings had staffers hold up large signs of people who have pleaded guilty in Mueller’s probe.

An FBI agent whose anti-Trump text messages fueled suspicions of partisan bias said at a hearing in Congress on Thursday that his work has never been tainted by politics, angrily rejecting Republican allegations that he set out to stop Donald Trump from becoming president.

That’s according to prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press.

For seven months, FBI agent Peter Strzok has been the target of harsh criticism from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans over his role in investigations into Russian election meddling. He and Page were kicked off the special counsel Robert Mueller’s team previous year after Mueller discovered their text messages and he has since been reassigned within the bureau.