Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Peter Strzok went ballistic on Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) after Gohmert called Strzok a “disgrace” and attacked him for cheating on his wife with Lisa Page at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.
Congressman Gohmert accused Strzok of lying regarding his involvement of the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, which sparked calls from Democrats to withdraw his comments.
Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz found in his report in June that Strzok had a “biased state of mind” that may have played a role in his and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Clinton email investigation. The IG report also revealed that Strzok told his mistress, Page, that “we’ll stop” President Trump from becoming president.
Gohmert said regarding Strzok’s political bias:
You’d be better off coming in here and saying ‘Look, that was my bias’ — and you kind of get around it a little bit when you say, ‘Hey, you know, everybody’s got political views.’ Those are called biases, and we all have them — and you have come in here and said, ‘I had no bias’, and you do it with a straight face. I watched you in the private testimony you gave, and I told the other guys — he’s really good. He’s lying. He knows we know he’s lying and he could probably pass a polygraph.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) ruled that Gohmert could continue.
Gohmert charged:
It won’t be recaptured anytime soon because of the damage you’ve done to the justice system. I’ve talked to FBI agents around the country. You’ve embarrassed them, you’ve embarrassed yourself, and I can’t help but wonder when I see you looking there with your little smirk how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eyes and lie to her about Lisa Page.
The Texas conservative’s comments caused an eruption of calls from House Democrats and Strzok to have Gohmert withdraw his remarks.
One Democrat exclaimed, “This is intolerable harassment of a witness!”
Another Democrat said, “This is shameful!”
A third Democrat said, “You need your medication!”
House Democrat ranking member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said that Gohmert was “Impugning the character of a witness.”
Strzok responded, “Sir first, I assure you, under oath, as I spoke also during my interview a week or two ago, I have always told the truth.”
The FBI agent continued, “The fact that you would tell me otherwise, the fact that you would question whether I was the sort of look I would engage with a family member that I have acknowledged hurting goes more to a discussion about your character and what you stand for and what is going inside you.”
“It goes to your credibility and you lost your credibility,” Rep. Gohmert fired back.
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