Peter Strzok

[Cartmann99]

Quote

Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 10:00 a.m., the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform will hold a joint hearing on “Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election: Testimony by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok.”

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced a joint investigation into decisions made by the Justice Department and FBI in 2016. To date, the Committees have interviewed Peter Strzok and several other key witnesses, and have reviewed thousands of documents, including text messages between former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and Mr. Strzok.

Media Guidance: The hearing will take place in 2118 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will be webcast live at judiciary.house.gov and oversight.house.gov. Media will be allowed access to the hearing room at 9:15 a.m.

https://judiciary.house.gov/press-release/strzok-to-testify-before-the-house-judiciary-and-oversight-committees/

C-Span 3 has it on their schedule for tomorrow:

Quote

10:00AM

FBI's Peter Strzok on 2016 Investigations

4 hours, 0 minute

Peter Strzok, a former FBI official who was removed from the special counsel's investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections, testifies before a joint hearing of two House committees responsible for FBI and Justice Department oversight.

https://www.c-span.org/schedule/?channel=3

All times listed are Eastern.

[JMarie]

Got the DVR set for tomorrow night's Hannity.  He loooooves to ramble on about Strzok and Lisa Page.

[Cartmann99]

Link to another livestream:

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/peter-strzok-fbi-testifies-congress-anti-trump-bias-before-house-panel-today-2018-07-12-live-updates/

They are running late, but Strzok has been seated, so it shouldn't be too much longer.

 

 

[Cartmann99]

It's starting now.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

Also, Trey Gowdy is an ass.

[Cartmann99]

 

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

The hearing will reconvene at 2pm ET.

[candygirl200413]

I was literally yelling at Gowdy and co through my tv. He is such utter trash.

[Cartmann99]

Oh man, we get Darrell Issa-CA, Steve King-IA, and Louie Gohmert-TX in the same afternoon. 

 

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

I'm not quite up to speed yet on this, but WTF. What the actual fuck?

What a colossal waste of time.   And talk about trumped up charges.

[AmazonGrace]

I haven't watched the whole thing because I can't handle all that ranting but based on the clips I've seen I like Peter Strzok. He seems like a professional who doesn't get easily fazed.

Although when he  states that the proof that he's unbiased is that he didn't leak the Russia investigation before the election because he's such a proud patriot.... I'm like, yeah but maybe a real patriot would have attempted to stop a foreign agent from getting elected

[Cartmann99]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

More from Aaron Blake: "7 key moments from Peter Strzok’s wild hearing"

Spoiler

FBI agent Peter Strzok had his moment on an extremely hot seat Thursday morning in a contentious hearing that quickly devolved into angry yelling, interjections and parliamentary maneuvering.

Appearing before a joint session of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, Strzok sought to explain his anti-Trump text messages at a time when he was the lead agent on the FBI's then-nascent Russia investigation in 2016. 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. Republicans including President Trump have seized upon Strzok's texts — which included allusions to stopping Trump — as evidence of a biased and even corrupt law enforcement investigation.

Here are the key moments from the hearing so far, and we'll update this post as the hearing progresses.

1. The contempt threat

It didn't take long for the hearing to explode. After the opening statements, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) lodged his first question: How many people did Strok interview during the first eight days of the FBI's Russia investigation, between July 31 and Aug. 8, 2016?

Strzok, as he previewed in his opening statement, said he had been advised by the FBI's lawyers that he was not to address specifics of what is still an ongoing investigation. (The investigation was handed over to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in mid-2017.) Republicans quickly objected and threatened to hold Strzok in contempt. Democrats noted that it was unusual that Strzok be asked to disclose such details in a public setting.

Strzok said he didn't have to answer the question because, despite being subpoenaed by the committee, he had previously said he would speak voluntarily.

“Mr. Chairman, I do not believe I am here under subpoena,” Strzok said. “I believe I am here voluntarily. … Based on that, I will not answer that question.”

Democrats argued that a witness such as Strzok would not be expected to publicly disclose sensitive information like the blueprint for a hydrogen bomb. Another moved to adjourn the hearing less than an hour after it began.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.) finally said that Strzok would be recalled to the committee after the day's hearing so that it could determine whether to hold him in contempt. But the tone was set.

2. Strzok's angry retort: 'It is deeply destructive'

After more than 20 minutes of maneuvering and posturing following the subpoena discussion, Gowdy ended his interrogation of Strzok and Strzok was given the floor to respond. In a minutes-long retort, he called Gowdy's and his Republican allies' allegations of bias and improper actions “deeply destructive.”

He said that his text messages critical of Trump shortly after the investigation began were in response to Trump's behavior on the campaign trail — and not a reflection of his investigative intent. He pointed in particular to Trump's attacks on the Khans, a Gold Star family who spoke at the Democratic National Convention around that time.

“My presumption [was] based on that horrible, disgusting behavior that the American population would not elect somebody demonstrating that behavior to be president of the United States,” he said. “It was in no way, unequivocally, any suggestion that me, the FBI, would take any action whatsoever to improperly impact the electoral process for any candidate. So I take great offense . . . ”

Strzok concluded the accusation against him and the line of questioning “deeply corrodes what the FBI is in American society, the effectiveness of their mission, and it is deeply destructive.” Some in the room applauded.

3. A perjury accusation — and a very personal attack

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) seized upon Strzok's contention that his texts didn't demonstrate personal “bias” and said that argument amounted to him lying. When Democrats noted that Gohmert was basically accusing Strzok of perjury — given he made that claim under oath — Gohmert was unbowed.

Then he got personal — very personal.

“When I see you looking with a little smirk, I wonder how many times did you look so innocently into your wife's eyes and lie to her about Lisa Page,” Gohmert began. The hearing room erupted, with someone shouting “insane asylum” and someone else asserting that Gohmert needed medication.

In response, Strzok acknowledged “hurting” someone he described as a “family member.”

“The fact that you would question whether or not that was the sort of look,” he told Gohmert, “goes more to a discussion about your character.”

4. The transcript threat

One of the subplots here has been Democrats' push to release the transcript of Strzok's previous, closed-door testimony. They argue that it has been selectively leaked and described to impugn him.

So at one point early in the hearing, Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) said he intended to release the transcript himself — and asked whether there was any reason he couldn't. Goodlatte stressed that it was the committee's practice and that there was an agreement to keep closed-door hearings private while an investigation is ongoing.

Cicilline's response: “We intend to release this transcript unless someone presents some rule that prevents us from doing it, and we’ll give you till 5 this afternoon to present that,” he said. “Otherwise we intend to release the transcript.”

Eventually Cicilline got some backup from GOP Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.), who happens to be the head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

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 Russia probe. In the latter case, apparently, Republicans don't think it applies.

5. Making him read his own texts

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) took his five minutes to force Strzok to read some of his own texts — including ones that used vulgarities.

While reading one in which he used the f-word while talking about Trump, Strzok paused and asked how he should handle it, then finished. Then Issa asked him to read it again.

“Sir, was that not intelligible?” Strzok said. “You just want to hear — for me to repeat it.”

“Please,” Issa said.

“Okay, sir. Sure,” Strzok shot back snidely. “Happy to indulge you.”

6. A Democrat says Strzok should get a Purple Heart

The difference between the lines of questioning between Republicans and Democrats was, as usual, stark. While Republicans badgered Strzok and tried to catch him off-guard, Democrats mostly used their time to argue for the importance of the Mueller investigation.

But some Democrats decided to go further than that and to make Strzok a martyr — or even a hero. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) went the furthest.

“Mr. Strzok, if I could give you a Purple Heart, I would,” Cohen said when he began his questioning.

To recap, Strzok was removed from the Mueller investigation and harshly criticized by an inspector general. It is generally agreed that his text messages were problematic, regardless of if you think this reflects corruption and bias in all law enforcement or the Mueller probe.

7. The visual aids

During his opening statement, House Oversight Committee ranking Democrat Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) asserted that Republicans were trying to shut down a fruitful investigation. Gowdy recently asserted that Mueller should “finish it the hell up.”

Cummings noted the guilty pleas Robert S. Mueller III had obtained already, and he brought visual aids to drive home the point.

“Let me underscore: These are not allegations, these are admissions,” Cummings said. Someone on the committee objected at one point, but the visual aids were allowed to stay.

Later on, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) displayed a similar visual, holding up former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's just-released mug shot. Manafort hasn't pleaded guilty like the others, but he is awaiting trial and has been jailed for witness-tampering.

 

There are multiple videos embedded in the article.

[Cartmann99]

They are now taking a recess to vote.

[AmazonGrace]

Vote about what?

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

I didn't hear them say, but I think they recessed so they could go vote on stuff in the House. That was the reason they gave for the earlier recess, and when I quickly checked the feed for C-Span-1, there was a guy giving a speech on the House floor.

Looks like they are back!

[Howl]

Jay Bookman tweeted, "I have not seen Republicans cite a single example of a biased ACTION or DECISION taken by the FBI's Peter Strzok, or how he might have acted unfairly."
I was listening to some commentary and summary on the Strzok hearing on NPR on the way home from Costco a few minutes ago.  Yes, they brought up the point that if Strzok was so biased, why didn't he actually take action to influence the election? This is Strzokgazi, folks. The final hearings may be conducted by the grand children or great grandchildren of the original interrogators. 

And fuck Trey Gowdy, I mean not me, literally, you all know that, but in the most insulting meaning of the word. 

And please, the irony of the crap going on over Mueller's investigation of collusion with Russia while the PRESIDENT is going to have a one on one with PUTIN, with only a Russian translator present *glrblezgizbligtz* incoherent garbling noises, because I can't, I just CAN'T right now.  

Hakeem Jeffries was just damned heroic.  Awesome.  Strzok was steel. 

41 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

I think they recessed so they could go vote on stuff in the House.

I think they recessed so they could wipe up their own drool and ask each other what the fuck just happened in there.  As Rick Wilson noted, they thought that Strzok would be a quick TKO and they got punched out instead. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

If I hear one more Trumper pearl-clutch about Strzok's extramarital shenanigans or complain about his mean comments towards the "fuck your feelings" crowd, I'm going to lose what's left of my mind.

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

11 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

 

Goodlatte is such a tool. He decided not to run again in November. Good riddance to bad rubbish. It's pitiful that he just has to grandstand and kiss Dumpy's ass until he's gone.