July 12, 2018: F.B.I. Agent Peter Strzok Testifies for Ten Hours

 

7/12/18: F.B.I. agent Peter Strzok testifies for ten hours in front of a joint panel of the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees. Republicans spend the day shouting about Strzok’s bias against President Trump. 

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He could have sunk Trump’s golden boat.

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Strzok, who served as an officer in the U.S. Army (1991-1996), admits he had, in 2016, and still has, a bias against Trump. He says that he could not imagine any man who trashed a Gold Star family, said John McCain was not a hero, and bragged about grabbing women by the pussy, would ever become President of the United States. 

Republican lawmakers take an Evel Knievel-like leap from there to land a wild claim that since Strzok was biased, he had to have been working against Candidate Trump in 2016 and against him to this day. He could not have conducted himself in a professional manner when helping investigate the Trump campaign and links to Russia. That proves, GOP lawmakers insist, that the entire Mueller investigation is a witch hunt. 

And, I suppose, it “proves” that none of the Republicans shouting all day have any biases of their own.

 

Strzok keeps pointing out that the F.B.I. Inspector General’s 500-page report (which Senate lawmakers demanded should be compiled) found that bias did not affect his professional conduct or the conduct of former F.B.I. Director James Comey or other top agency officials. 

Strzok also points out that had he wanted to stop Trump from being elected he had the tools at hand. He was one of a handful of top officials who knew in the summer of 2016 that the Trump campaign had had an array of suspicious contacts with Russians. He knew an investigation had been opened. He could have leaked that to the press before the election. He could have sunk Trump’s golden boat. 

Irrefutably, neither Strzok nor anyone else at the F.B.I. did.

 

Highlights of the hearing include Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) attacking Strzok on the basis of body language. At one point, in answer to a question by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-TX), Strzok made it clear he was appalled when Candidate Trump attacked the Gold Star family of a slain Muslim American soldier. Gosar pounced near the close of the hearings, like a three-legged cat with one eye. 

Angrily, he posed this question for Strzok: 

You talk about bias. This morning I watched – and by the way, I am a dentist, OK, so I read body language very, very well. And I watched you comment on actions with Mr. Gowdy. You got very angry in regards to the gold star father. That shows me that it is innately a part of you and a bias.

 

Yeah. You could call it a “bias” if you liked. By that standard, I guess you could say most people are “biased” against child molesters. Who would approve of any candidate attacking a Gold Star mother?? 

Democratic lawmakers kept spoiling the fun. They pointed out that the two Republican-controlled House committees had failed to subpoena a single witness in over a year of “investigations.” They noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee had reported in bipartisan fashion that the Russians did interfere in the election. They did want Trump to win. They did try to derail Hillary Clinton. 

Not a single Republican member of the House committees, in ten hours, asked Strzok a question about Russian meddling. 

One Democratic lawmaker offered the assessment that his Republican colleagues were part of a “Cover-up Caucus.” 

 

“You need your medication!” 

The nadir was reached when Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Tx.) attacked Strzok for smirking during a long day of testimony. Gohmert asked if Strzok had the same smirk on his face when he lied to his wife about having an affair with another F.B.I. agent. (Strzok has long admitted the affair.) 

Oh! Snap! You could almost hear Gohmert thinking. But as a good liberal, I had to wonder: Did Rep. Gohmert ever wonder in the same way about that sappy smirk Trump wears on his face? You know: The look on his orange mug when he lies and tells three wives in a row that he’s not cheating? 

At any rate, one Democratic lawmaker could be heard shouting at Gohmert, “You need your medication!” 

It was that kind of a day.

Rep. Gohmert catches a whiff of the truth.