House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is set to subpoena FBI agent Peter Strzok “very soon,” committee member Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) said Friday.
“It’s my understanding that Chairman Goodlatte will be subpoenaing him very soon,” Chabot, who is running to be the next Judiciary chairman, said on Hill.TV’s “Rising.” “Maybe a subpoena won’t be necessary, but it looks like it probably will.”
Strzok, an FBI investigator, was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling after it was revealed that, during the 2016 campaign, he had sent anti-Trump text messages to a colleague, Lisa Page, with whom he was having a relationship.
Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report last week on the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton private email investigation cited a previously undisclosed text message from Strzok to Page saying that they would “stop” Trump from becoming president.
A week ago, Goodlatte triggered the process for subpoenaing Strzok by officially notifying the top Democrat on the panel. But the next day, Strzok attorney Aitan Goelman sent a letter to Goodlatte saying his client would voluntarily testify before the Judiciary panel and that Goodlatte’s pursuit of a warrant was “wholly unnecessary,” according to CNN.
Strzok “has been fully cooperative with the DOJ Office of Inspector General” and “intends to voluntarily appear and testify before your committee and any other Congressional committee that invites him,” Strzok’s attorney wrote to Goodlatte.
Goelman said on Tuesday that Strzok had been escorted out of the FBI amid an internal review of his conduct.
—Scott Wong
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