Anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok was subpoenaed on Friday to testify before the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform committees next week.
Mr. Strzok is expected to testify on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. as part of the Committees’ joint investigation into Justice Department’s decisions surrounding the 2016 election.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said in a statement that the committees have “repeatedly” asked to interview Mr. Strzok, but he has yet to appear.
Last week, however, Mr. Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman, told Mr. Goodlatte that a subpoena was “wholly unnecessary” because his client would willingly appear before the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Strzok “has been fully cooperative with the DOJ Office of Inspector General” and will “voluntarily appear and testify before your committee and any other Congressional committee that invites him,” Mr. Goelman said in the letter.
A key part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, Mr. Strzok later joined the team headed by special counsel Robert Mueller probing Russia collusion with the Trump campaign.
However, he was removed from Mueller team after the Justice Department inspector general discovered text messages disparaging the Mr. Trump and promising to stop his election. The text messages were sent to Lisa Page, an FBI attorney romantically involved with Mr. Strzok.
In one message just before the election, Ms. Page asked Mr. Strzok, “Trump’s not ever going to be president, right? Right?!”
“No. No he won’t we’ll stop it,” Mr. Strzok replied.
A report issued by the Justice Department inspector general recommended the FBI take administrative action against Mr. Strzok, Ms. Page and three other unnamed bureau employees.
“The damage caused by [Strzok and Page’s] actions extends far beyond the scope of the [Clinton email] investigation and goes to the heart of the FBI’s reputation for neutral fact finding and political independence,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in the report.
But Mr. Hororwitz did not say if Mr. Strzok’s bias influenced the Russian investigation.
Testifying before Congress earlier this week, Mr. Horowitz was asked if he believed whether Mr. Strzok’s texts showed political bias.
“I think as we found it clearly shows a biased state of mind,” Mr. Horowtiz said.
Later, Mr. Horowitz was asked if Strzok’s bias led to the start of the Russia probe. He responded, “that’s a matter that we have under review and are looking at right now.”
Since Mr. Horowitz’s report, Mr. Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building last week. Although, his attorney maintains that he is still an active employee. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that Mr. Strzok had been stripped of his security clearance.
President Trump blasted Mr. Strzok in a recent tweet.
“FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who headed the Clinton & Russia investigations, texted to his lover Lisa Page, in the IG Report, that “we’ll stop” candidate Trump from becoming President. Doesn’t get any lower than that!,” the president tweeted.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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