In a fiery Congressional hearing that broke down into partisan shouting, Strzok told lawmakers that his comments in private text messages to his lover, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, were a reaction to Donald Trump’s “horrible, disgusting behaviour” on the 2016 campaign trail.
But he denied that his personal beliefs had influenced his professional judgement and warned the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees that Republican attacks on his agency and the department of justice (DoJ) only served to divide the American people.
“This investigation is not politically motivated, it is not a witch hunt, it is not a hoax,” Strzok said.
“I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role, but I truly believe that this hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.”
Trump has dubbed Strzok and Page the “FBI lovers” — and used their messages to tar the FBI with allegations of bias, and undermine the probe into whether his campaign team and Russia colluded to influence the election.
Strzok said his opinions did not influence his work on the Russia probe or the investigation into the use of a private e-mail server by Trump’s 2016 election rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, during her time as secretary of state.
“Like many people, I had and expressed personal political opinions during an extraordinary presidential election...opinions that were not always expressed in terms I am proud of,” he said.
“But let me be clear, unequivocally and under oath: not once in my 26 years of defending my nation did my personal opinions impact any official action I took.”
Tens of thousands of text messages between Strzok and Page sent during their 2015-2017 affair have been made public, revealing coarse comments denigrating Trump both during and after the 2016 election. Republicans have seized on the texts as proof that the FBI is too riddled with bias to fairly investigate Trump.
“A bias-free investigation is not a Republican or Democrat issue — it’s an American issue,” said Republican Representative Trey Gowdy.
Gowdy latched onto several comments made by Strzok — calling Trump an “idiot” and worse, and a pledge to a distressed Page in August 2016, just as the FBI began investigating links between the Trump campaign and Russia, that the real estate mogul would not become president.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok told her.
Strzok said the comment was a response to Trump’s actions on the campaign trail.
“You need to understand that that was written late at night off the cuff, and it was a response to a series of events that included then-candidate Trump insulting the immigrant family of a fallen war hero,” Strzok told the panel, sparking a burst of applause from the audience.
It reflected, he said, “my presumption, based on that horrible, disgusting behaviour, that the American population would not elect someone demonstrating that behaviour to be president of the US.”
