Chairman Bob Goodlatte: ‘Appears that Lisa Page Has Something to Hide’

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) on Tuesday warned former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that lawmakers would “use all tools” at their disposal to obtain her testimony, after her lawyer said she would not comply with a subpoena to appear before the committee on Wednesday.

Goodlatte said in a statement:

It appears that Lisa Page has something to hide. She plans to blatantly defy a congressional subpoena by refusing to appear for her deposition. She has known for months that the House Judiciary Committee has sought her testimony as part of our joint investigation with the Oversight Committee into decisions made by the Justice Department in 2016, and she has no excuse for her failure to appear. Lisa Page is a key witness, and it is critical that she come before our committees to answer questions as part of our investigation.

“We will use all tools at our disposal to obtain her testimony,” he added. “Americans across the country are alarmed at the bias exhibited by top officials at the Justice Department and FBI, and it is imperative Congress conduct vigorous oversight to ensure that never happens again.”

Page is the lawyer who worked for fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe during the FBI’s investigations into Hillary Clinton’s home-brew email server and into the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 elections. She was involved in both investigations.

She engaged in an extramarital affair with senior FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, who played a lead role in both investigations. They exchanged hundreds of text messages that revealed that Page and Strzok abhorred Donald Trump and supported Clinton.

Last month, the Justice Department’s inspector general found that Strzok’s text messages about Trump showed a “biased state of mind” and a “willingness to act.”

Strzok in August 2016 texted Page about Trump possibly becoming the president: “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop him.”

Both served on the special counsel for several months, until Page’s assignment ended, and Strzok was removed after the text messages were discovered.

Strzok testified to the House Judiciary and Oversight & Government Reform Committees last month behind closed doors and was subpoenaed to testify in an open setting on Thursday.

Page was subpoenaed to testify before the committees behind closed doors on Wednesday. Her lawyer wrote in a statement earlier Tuesday, according to Politico:

Instead of responding to our requests to explain the scope of the interview and provide sufficient notice to allow her to prepare, the Committees chose to issue a subpoena on Saturday (July 7) demanding that Lisa appear on Wednesday, July 11. The Committees would be asking Lisa about materials that she has not yet been shown. In fact, Lisa and I went to the FBI today to review the materials that were previously produced to Congress relating to her proposed interview, but after waiting for more than three hours, we were not provided with any documents. We have asked the Committees to scheduled another date that would allow sufficient time for her to prepare. The Committees have not honored this request. As a result Lisa is not going to appear for an interview at this time.

Trump tweeted earlier Tuesday: “I am on Air Force One flying to NATO and hear reports that the FBI lovers, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are getting cold feet on testifying about the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by 13 Angry Democrats and people that worked for Obama for 8 years. Total disgrace!”