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.

December 9-10, 2018: The President Claims There Is No "Smocking Gun"

 

12/9-10/18: The pressure of all the investigations he and his crewmates are facing is clearly getting to the president. Sunday, he tweet-blasts James Comey, who testified before Congress on Friday. 

Once again, we will summarize: “Leakin’ James Comey,” “a record for who lied the most.” “Rigged fraud headed up by dishonest people.” “Enemy of the People.”

Monday, Trump rose again early and kept tweet-screaming. The first yowl came at 6:46 a.m., the second fourteen minutes later: 

“Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun...No Collusion.” @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...

 

....which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s - but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!

 

As for Comey, he manages to shrug off Trump’s attacks. The usual right-wing outlets claim he covered himself in shame after testifying in front of Congress about the decision of the F.B.I. to end the investigation of Hillary Clinton and open an investigation into the Trump campaign. In reality, his testimony before a Republican-controlled panel on Friday showed a man  relaxed. Last September, for example, Trump told a reporter Mueller and Comey were “best friends…And I could give you 100 pictures of him and Comey hugging and kissing each other.” 

Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a member of the House panel, asked Mr. Comey: “Are you best friends with Robert Mueller?” 

“I am not,” Comey said. “I admire the heck out of the man, but I don’t know his phone number, I’ve never been to his house, I don’t know his children’s names. I think I had a meal once alone with him in a restaurant. I like him.” 

Nadler reassured Comey he’d not ask, “whether he had ever hugged and kissed him.” 

“A relief to my wife,” Comey smiled.

 

As usual, Republicans on the panel tried, again and again and again, to prove that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two F.B.I. agents who had shared critical emails about Candidate Trump, were involved in a plot to ensure Trump would never be elected. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) quoted a text from March 2016, which read, “Hillary should win 100 million to zero.” 

Didn’t that sound nefarious, he inquired? Comey said no. He pointed out the obvious for the forty-fifth time. He and Strzok and a handful of others knew well before the election that members of the Trump campaign were under investigation because of contacts with Russia. No one at the F.B.I. uttered a public word. They could easily have derailed the Trump Express. 

But they didn’t.