Testimony by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok - Part III

convene and the chair recognizes the gentleman from California mr. swallow for five minutes Thank You mr. struck mr. struck I too like my colleagues were disappointed to read the text messages knowing that you had a serious career and had done a lot of good work and the questions that would raise but I also appreciate that you have come here today and have owned them and have apologized for them but I want to focus on your work as an investigator in counterintelligence in your experience do counterintelligence investigations take longer when subjects to investigations tamper with other witnesses yes and your experience as a counterintelligence investigator do counterintelligence investigations take longer when subjects lie to investigators frequently yes and as a counterintelligence investigator do intelligence investigations take longer when subjects or witnesses refuse to cooperate and you have to go through the subpoena process yes you're here and you're not taking the fifth that's correct did you consider taking the fifth no why not I've done nothing wrong uh let me rephrase that I am sorry I am sorry for these texts and the way they've been used for the harm and hurt they've caused my family for the perception of people in the public and I'm I am sorry and deeply regretful for that but when it comes to that that's a personal exceptions to responsibility that I take and I need and I'm working to make right but when it comes to official conduct when it comes to any action which would violate a law or crime absolutely I've never done that and I've no need to take the fifth I mister struck you watched as director Comey testified a number of times under oath to Congress I have and to your knowledge has President Trump has he raised his right hand and gone under oath just as you and director Comey have to special counsel or anyone else only time recalls when he was sworn in as president were you the soul into who closed the Hillary Clinton investigation no we the sole individual who opened the Russia investigation no on November 3rd 2015 did you send an email to Michael Cohen and say that our boy can become president of the United States and we can engineer it I will get Putin's team to buy in on this did you send that email no did you set up a meeting on June 9th where the email setting up that meeting was sent to Donald Trump jr. where Donald Trump jr. was offered dirt on his father's opponent did you set up that June 9th meeting at Trump Tower uh without stating whether or not that meeting happened I did not set up a meeting did you reply to the email setting up that meeting when dirt was offered and said I loved it I did not and in the summer of 2016 were you working as a speechwriter no so would you have happened to have written the speech for Donald Trump the candidate in the summer of 2016 where he told an audience Russia if you're listening and then went on to tell the Russians that if they hacked Hillary Clinton's emails they'd be rewarded did you write that speech I did not does any of the behavior that I just described concern you from a counterintelligence perspective tremendously why because it indicates a a set of standards and requests that in my mind one encourage a foreign power to begin inserting themselves into our electoral process indicate a willingness or a desire to engage in a conversation and dialogue about how to do that it potentially implicates a variety of laws and without getting into what has or has not been done investigative ly simply I'm expressing that based on the open source reporting about those things thank you yield back the chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina mr. meadows for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck I'm gonna go through a few real quick questions but I think our leader in your testimony today what makes I have this clear I think you were quoted as saying we don't ever talk about ongoing investigations outside of the FBI is that true I I don't know the context in which I said it I can think of sharing with the media oh right so migrants that is I can think of examples not that I've participated in where members if there was an ongoing case say and a field office wanted to enlist the public's help and they would talk to the media about getting a lead on a kidnapper so I there are times where that might occur so that's why I want to be careful to frame what I said and how you you have never talked to anyone outside of the FBI about the Russia investigation at all I have never spoken to any member of the media about the Russia investigation have you spoken to anyone who is not in the media and is not part of the Department of Justice or the FBI about the Russian investigation the us other than witnesses the US intelligence community alright so you've talked to the CIA the US intelligence community I would not would that include the CIA potentially I don't think I can answer the specifics of who I talk to without gonna ask questions that you can't answer that are not specifics about this investigation and so in doing so I need you to give me clear answers are you aware that there was a meeting between director Brennan and Senator Harry Reid where indeed he shared certain intelligence with Senator Reid on August the 25th of 2016 are you aware of that I not to my recollection I am NOT okay well then the text message between you and miss page a few days after that on August 30th where you said here it comes when Senator Reid's sent a letter to director Comey what would you have been referring to that my recollection of that which is very imprecise that was that Senator Reid had been making a lot of comment and I don't know if it was public comment or comment to director Comey well they weren't public at that time they came with the New York Times but they weren't public at that time so are you aware that in your email they January 10th where you acknowledge the fact that Harry Reid knew about the dossier prior to sending that letter are you aware of that email from you I don't know that I was talking in that about the the the the steel material which you're referring to is the dossier I would have to check my notes I'm not I need you to check your notes and report back because we have evidence that would suggest that so since we're talking about the date on the sir was what August of August 25th was the briefing with Harry Reid 2000 2016 by director Brennan he sends a letter then to director Comey which we have acknowledgement of by director Comey and by you and Lisa page in in text messages that would suggest that you were aware of that so the CIA director briefing Harry Reid and it the indication is is that they talked about the dossier and we get that indication from an email from you from January 10 yeah but that's not true congressman the first recollection I have of any material from the material produced by mr. steel was mid September of 2016 so I did not know or have information from of that material certainly from any other source prior to mid September Hume reserves you had not seen it until mid-september my recollection is that in mid-september and again I have to defer it I wonder I want to give you a chance to make sure that we're clear on the record here you are not aware of a briefing that took place between director Brennan and and Senator Harry Reid on August 25 is correct to my recollection I was not aware of that meeting all right so let me go a little bit further because we've got four or five other documents that would indicate that the White House was notified it at least four different times about this investigation do you think that that would be appropriate during an ongoing campaign that the Obama administration would be kept up to speed on a Russia collusion investigation do you think that would be appropriate sir you're you're mixing a couple of things the it would be entirely appropriate for the White House to be aware and concerned about what the government of Russia was doing with regard to the elections when after that was not my question but I I agree I'm concerned I actually have a bill that I encourage my colleagues opposite to talk about Russian interference where we can make sure that didn't happen we're talking about an investigation that would include collusion being talked about with the White House we have evidence that would suggest not once not twice not three times but four times that it was discussed with people in the Obama administration were you aware of any discussion took place with regards to the rest Russia collusion investigation that took place with the Obama administration's executive branch so when I want to ask you sir when you say investigations are you talking about investigations I'm not saying there were or were not investigations of US persons or potentially investigations of a Russian sitting in the Ukraine of us persons associated with Donald Trump's campaign I am not aware of any briefings to the White House about those that it wouldn't was the time frame you provided I'm not aware of it of any time between July 31st in November 8th when the election happened you're not aware of any that's your sworn testimony about specific identities of people who are there I know I didn't ask about the people I don't want to know the people I want to know did it happen are you aware of any conversations that happen with Obama administration officials here for hands I am certainly aware of conversations that occurred with Obama administration officials I'm aware of a variety of conversations that took place across the US intelligence community talking about the Russian efforts I am aware that my recollection and understanding again I was not present at any briefing my understanding is that there were not discussions of identities of individual u.s. persons who may or may not been the subject of investigation say I think you're parsing words mr. Ferriero go back to parse words time of the gentleman wants her to be careful then I would the only way I can do that is by parse the chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana mr. Richmond for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman and against the the wisdom of my grandmother that said that when you see a circus going on don't jump in the middle of it and expect people not to call you a clown I will answer past questions anyway because I think that this is a circus and the problem is that it's a distraction from real issues that we're talking about or should be talking about in this country we've asked this committee to have a hearing on the fact that we still have not renewed the Voting Rights Act we have had no hearing we've asked this committee to have a hearing on daca where we are putting at risk dreamers who make this country a better place but we've had no hearing on daca we've actually hearings on the fact that we are separating infants and toddlers from their parents with now clearly no ability to reunite the family so we have sick and maniacal things going on in this country and we spent six hours with 20% of Congress locked in a room bashing someone in hopes that we can discredit a law enforcement investigation in my wildest dreams in my entire life I never thought that I a young black man will be defending the FBI but we were always taught that we have to believe in the system that the people who take an oath and swear to protect people who protect and serve our communities people who have fought for this country on foreign land that we give them the benefit of the doubt of their honesty and integrity and the fact that they want to see justice served we have these hearings but we won't have hearings to really look at Russian collusion we can't even get the administration to admit that Russians played a part in hacking our elections so when we look at what we're doing today what we're doing is wasting precious time and I can go down the list on September 7th we send September 7th of 2017 we sent a letter about Dhaka on October 2nd of 2017 we sent a letter to this committee asking them to have a hearing about the Las Vegas shooting and what we could be doing as the Judiciary Committee to make sure that that doesn't happen again we sent a letter November 6 of 2017 to ask about what we could be doing when 25 people were killed in a church in Texas we the Judiciary Committee with jurisdiction why are we not having a hearing on that so the question is with all of the talent on this committee on both sides my Republican colleagues my Democratic colleagues we have spent far too much time today on a red herring that is designed to do exactly what I'm afraid it's doing which is distracting from the real issues that we're dealing with in this country and unfortunately with the media and our 24-hour news cycle American people going to hear this over and over and actually think that this is a real substantive hearing when it's not and I just think it's very unfortunate because people in America have some real problems they're dealing with how to find their children how to keep a roof over their head clothes on their back food on the table care for ailing parent and we're in here wasting time and with that I'll just I'll just yield the balance of my time if there's anything that you think you need to add or that you were cut off and not at the time to add to this discussion I will give the balance of my time to mr. stroggs to do that sir no I appreciate that offer yeah I'm struck listening to your statements and and I know the history of the FBI I certainly want the FBI to be something that you leap to the defense of and I think that's something we're working very hard to become but yeah again I appreciate the offering thank you and when it comes to FBI also acts years ago to have a hearing on the fact that they we don't know or track how many crimes are committed by FBI informants we haven't had that hearing but we spent time on fast and furious because we were putting guns introducing guns into the hands of criminals but every day the FBI and law enforcement with snitches and confidential informants allow people to deal drugs in African American community that cooperate with the FBI we still have not had that hearing so all I'm asking for is let's at least keep our eye on things that are affecting all of our communities and this just isn't one of them in the unfortunate part is I think you know we've been unable to keep tunnel vision on the things that are important and we've allowed ourselves to get distracted by something that the investigation will at the end of its day the thing will speak for itself and whether there was collusion whether people broke the law we will find out but we do know one thing that there's been indictments and they've been guilty pleas and in my experience guilty people don't plead guilty very often and when you have indictments that say the United States of America versus the time of the gun has expired then we know that where there's smoke this fire and we ought to allow the process to play out with that I surrender to remained in my time the time of the gentleman has expired the gentleman from Florida mr. Ross is like recognized for five minutes Thank You chairman mr. Strock I thank you for being here I know it's been a long day and this is the last place we want to be but you're the reason we're here and actions by you are the reason we are here and I know that my colleague from Pennsylvania I represented Marino had shown you this handbook on ethics on for on and off-duty conduct issued by the US Department of Justice principle nine of the 14 principles espoused in there say that employees shall protect and conserve federal property and shall not use it for other than authorized activities and as my colleague on the other side of the aisle from the District of Columbia congressman Norton's pointed out quote anything that was on your official phone belongs to the public would you not agree I don't it is funded by the public it is in the service of the public I don't know that it necessarily mean it is least hydro property yes and according to principle nine should not be used for any other anything other than authorized activities that being said did you use any other federal property for any other reason for anything but federal activities I would tell you FBI policy allows the use of phones for personal and de minimis use and a minute I text message so when you're on de minimis well it's one big bucket sure it FBI agents can send a hundred billion texts are one text and they would get billed the same but you've testified today that what she texted was considered political free speech your opinions were political free speech and do you feel that your use of a federally authorized federally owned cell phone protects your right of exercising your political free speech sir look I think you know I think it was bad judgment I think it was terrible judgment but I do not I believe I believe it is protected speech as the same way the protective speech would be then if you used your federal vehicle and put a Hillary for Hillary good that's or not that's pretty good if you read the ethics guidelines sir that is for real I'm doing may I answer your question please that the use of our display of any bumper sticker but believe me after this started I have gone through the ethics guidelines up down left and right in the Hatch Act placing a political bumper sticker on a car is expandable government car any government car is expressly prohibited to the contrary expression publicly or privately of personal political belief is encouraged and I would and you're reducing on a little problem read the d violent of that policy guide before you start mr. chairman witness to answer the question the gentleman from Florida controls the time the FBI ethics integrity program policy FBI code of conduct states that employees shall conduct their personal activities in manner that does not impede their professional performance or tarnish the reputation of the FBI you agree with that I do and you have blamed today the media you have blamed the Washington community you've blamed the president you blamed everybody and you say it's just not you so my question is do you believe in any way that your personal texts that were done on federal property have in any way tarnish the reputation of the FBI sir I I don't think I've blamed anybody here at all today have your I take responsibility for sending those texts those texts have caused as I've said I I really said that earlier but an immense amount as a garnish threat and have a reputation of FBI yes sir it has hasn't it yes and to take it even further on page four the ethics Handbook it states so while you're looking for that reference I would tell you the time is controlled by the gentleman from this law department has defined the touristy disgraceful conduct as conduct which were to become widely known would embarrass discredit or subject to a probiem the perpetrator of the and the United States my concern is is that we've seen little or no remorse here other than saying I wish I'd never sent those texts out because I've hurt my family but in fact as elected member of Congress I have an obligation into entrusted to be my my people to make sure that we maintain the quality of trust in our government and after today after what you've seen today I understand why the federal government has such a low level of trust from the American people my question to you is having been there having now been here how do we reinstate that trust to the American people how do we make sure this never happens again sir I would a couple of answers to several things you said first I don't think the American people has lost faith and confidence in the FBI at all what the FBI does day-in day-out you're wrong sir I know I've spoken to agents in 56 field offices and I know the work they do day in day out and whatever is convenient to say here some news clip is absolutely not what exists second sir I would tell you yes I and I don't know where you're saying I don't have remorse or somehow I'm not sorry I have said I will tell you again sir it's not knowing that I said that question of sir if I may respond your question I am deeply regretful for those texts I wrote them I know it I know what has been done with them at the same time I will tell you sir it has to FBI aloud there is an expectation that those texts are private the Bureau allows me or any FBI employee to text my priest to text my doctor in knowing time of the gentleman has expired that those are not going to be made public I had no idea that this was going to happen and darn if I knew I never would have done it for sure thank you the time of the gentleman has expired the chair recognizes the gentleman from California mr. Liu for five minutes Thank You mr. chair let me start by saying this is a stupid and ridiculous hearing for at least two reasons the Geo shoe committee has jurisdiction over immigration it is July 12 2018 as we sit here today there are nearly 3,000 babies and kids women ripped away from their parents by the Trump administration and we're not doing hearing on that we're doing a hearing instead on the investigation under Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 that's just dumb second before this hearing today my Republican colleagues could not point to a single act that you took agent struck in an official capacity that showed bias and any of these official investigations now more than eight hours later they still can't point to a single official act you took that showed bias in these investigations you know there's a famous book I read called oh I really need to know I learned in kindergarten based on today's circus I hope more members on this committee read that book well there's one thing all of us are taught in kindergarten which is that actions speak louder than words now your words show that you did not like Donald Trump you use the F word when referring to Donald Trump you want to download Trump to lose and the one thing you could have done to cause them to lose is to disclose the Russia investigation of July of 2016 that you do that sir I did not did you disclose investigation in August 2016 no September of 2016 no October 2016 of November of 2016 no what you did is what we expect every FBI agent to do which is to check their personal beliefs at the door and do your a job and that's what you did you also showed by your words that you want a Hillary Clinton to win but yet the IG investigation found that you advocated for more aggressive investigative measures into the Clinton investigation including the use of grand jury subpoenas and search warrants obtain evidence is that true yes and again you did that because you checked your political beliefs at the door and when you did your duty as FBI agent you apply the law to the facts that's what we expect you to do that's what we expect prosecutors do that's we expect judges to do I'm a former prosecutor there were defendants I despised their defendants I sort of was okay with but it didn't matter all that mattered was could we prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt if we could we went forward if we couldn't we did not go forward and that's what we expect everybody to do now there's been some allegations by one of my colleagues today about political donations now that might show bias so let's talk about FBI director Christopher ray he is a Republican nominated by Republican president confirmed by republican-controlled Senate I'm going to ask you to accept for pers this question the following fact that he gave over thirty nine thousand dollars in political donations exclusively to Republican candidates I still trust FBI director ray to do his job because I expect him to check his personal beliefs at the door and do his job when he's on duty do you still trust FBI director Chris for Ray implicitly yes their Attorney General Jeff Sessions made political contributions to the Alabama Republican Party i still trust if there's a case involving a Democrat or Republican or independent or some move over Joel Stein there turns around Jeff Sessions could look at the facts of the law and apply it and do it in a fair and unbiased manner do you still trust Attorney General Jeff Sessions to do that even though he may pull contributions to the Alabama Republican Party I I don't know him and nearly the same capacity that I know the director but he's taken an oath as the Attorney General and I trust him to discharge that thank you and then let me conclude by saying this we're gonna know at some point what the Robert Moeller investigation found we already know about the Hillary Clinton email is because there's been exhaustive investigation in adapt Plus this IG report and what we're seeing now is an attack on law enforcement when I was processing cases I know that when defendants don't have the facts of evidence on their side they resort to attacking law enforcement that's what we see happening now and I just thought I'd end on a quote from Sarah Huckabee Sanders who said basically when you're attacking the FBI you're losing I yield back the chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina mr. Walker for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. stroke you have mentioned I think to my count over 30 times about your personal beliefs when it comes to your text and that was your just your opinion one of the texts you said we will stop it referencing the Trump campaign mr. struck that's not a personal belief text that's a plan of action who's the we in that text sir I disagree that's not a plan of action the we as I have stated and the reason I'm saving it so many times is I've been asked at least twice as many times the reason I said that I don't recall that text when I look at the context of it in the middle of the night I can tell you I'm certain it is not okay well suggest it at me or the FBI taking it I can also serve I can reclaim my time you answer the question that you don't recall it but under oath there was no plan of action yes well my 8th grade teacher English teacher misery's painter used to teach me that stop was an action verb so I believe it certainly sounds that let me get away from just the ten of texts as despicable as despicable as they were let's talk about the volume of text if we could please 50,000 texts over this timeframe is that the number that you understand I that is a number I've heard from several hundred pages ten to twelve four hundred pages ten to twelve about fifty thousand texts which is amazing I I'm hoping you at the agency at least had the unlimited data plan since it was a taxpayer's phone because of the great amount of volume and you even testified today under oath there's many more on your personal phone which blows me away sometimes over a hundred texts a day while you're supposed to be doing your job in fact on Friday June the 10th in 2016 there were 73 exchange texts this is the same day that the FBI finally made a deal for Clinton's attorneys and laptop laptops did you leave your desk to send these 73 plus texts on that single day I do not recall where I was when I sent those texts I'm sure that you I would say if you look at those texts the huge majority of them are in fact related to work minutiae and administrative things well there may be a lot but there's a whole lot more Plus you know I I don't get the text with my friends and family sometimes do we finish our work in the day obviously you had enough time during the day being the second lead investigator that you're supposed to be doing your work but here we find a lot of time fifty thousand texts sir which that of which the authors and I did work which the walk James Comey has talked about how the mid year investigative team was the a-team spending every waking moment to complete the investigation how does this statement square with amount of time you seem to spend texting Lisa tech lisa page on working days sir the majority of those texts the grand majority were work-related matters of the many many things I've been accused of some of which are true and horrible one thing is not being one of them is being not being lazy so I can assure you that those texts and what they represent is work and work that was going on frequently from five o'clock in the morning till 11 o'clock at night so I would encourage you sir if you want to read through the 50,000 and have somebody catalogue that's not astronomically high you're talking six to seven hundred per week so don't give me that this was all work-related the other point I want to make here is that this is an integrity issue and that's part of the problem here we talked about the text and no you're right they weren't all on official time like making fun of the Trump people at the Walmart you're right some of those were in your spare time but I believe there is a credibility issue and that's probably one of the reasons that mr. Mueller decided to take you off this particular case I believe it I believe you cannot sit there and tell us as you testified earlier today you didn't know for sure who he did but I believe it's pretty obvious to the American people that you have so discredited the FBI that you were removed from this case with that I'll yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Ohio mr. Jordan I respond to the time is controlled by the gentleman from lava gentlemen to answer the question at the conclusion of his time the gentleman we allowed to briefly answer anything that was left unanswered by mr. Walker but mr. Jordan now control agent struck I just want to go back to where we're right before the votes that we get to leave the committee you said when I was asking you about documents received by the FBI for mr. Orr you said you did not personally receive documents from mr. Orr but the FBI did is that correct and you also said the FBI got documents from a different source in mid-september different source than whom a different source from mr. Orr it was not mr. Orr who provided the initial documents that I became aware of in mid-september though mr. Orr did not hand you the dossier that's mr. Orr didn't hand me anything mr. Doyle provided information to the FBI that included material that is what everybody's calling the dossier since again mr. Orr provided what he provided some elements of reporting that my understanding is originated from mr. Steele so Bruce or did give the FBI information relative to the dossier yes and another source also in mid-september gave you personally information oh you the FBI information relative to the dossier I never personally received dossier information the FBI in mid-september the first time I am aware of the FBI having that information the first time I saw it was in mid-september my understanding was that was that came in to the FBI that's when I be more of it and when I first read it one more time just said Bruce or gave the FBI documents relating to and supporting or part of the dossier is that accurate mr. or gave the FBI documents which included material that I believe originated from mr. steel thank you the gentleman may briefly answer the question that the gentleman felt he didn't have an opportunity to answer with mr. Walker yes sir thank you and I wanted to address when you bring up an integrity issue and it's interesting you and the gentleman from Texas raised this in a way that almost you know approaches it is insulting generally answer that I'm saying I am here under oath I am not lying I have never lied under oath and I never will and so the insinuation not even the insinuation the direct comment that you somehow say you have an integrity issue is insulting I I take offense it is incorrect nothing I've never mentioned a personal life I just simply said the amount of time that you were spending on the taxpayers dollar wasting it when you were supposed to meet you in your job texting back and forth but I'm a problem and the gentleman has already answered that question so now the gentleman from Maryland mr. Raskin is recognized for five minutes so we have more than 2,500 kids in America who are separated from their families no hearings from judiciary or oversight we got thousands of people who've been slain in gun violence from Parkland to Las Vegas to San Bernardino County no hearings on the universal background check favored by 97% of the people the president has plunged us into trade Wars he's insulting and taunting our Democratic allies around the world he's flattering autocrats and kleptocrats and dictators around the world and he's done nothing to stop another round of cyber sabotage of our elections coming in 2018 but our colleagues don't want to do any hearings on any of the chaos that's been set loose in the land no mr. struck the GOP wants to talk about your personal texts two or three out of more than 50,000 that we've seen and the purpose of course is to derail and discredit the investigation by the special counsel that is obtained 19 indictments in five criminal convictions of people like Flynn and gates and Papadopoulos and so on and when their names come up you'll notice that our colleagues maintain a discreet and demure silence on the other side of the aisle but they're outspoken about this they say mr. struck that you were at the heart of a deep state conspiracy to oppose Donald Trump to make this claim they've got ignored the fact that you were an equal-opportunity insult er of politicians you had choice negative words for Democrats and independents like Bernie Sanders who you called an idiot like Donald Trump Hillary Clinton and martin O'Malley who you called a freak show that's not very nice but hey there's a first amendment here in America and you can still insult government officials without being thrown into jail or held in contempt of Congress at least by our side of the aisle there are no kings here and we have freedom of speech the right that is cherished by the people and feared only by tyrants but my colleagues have insisted on making a conspiracy theory out of your pillow talk texts but there are a couple facts they can't get around number one the IG found no partisan bias affecting the official investigation number two attorney general sessions is a Republican appointed by Donald Trump rod Rosenstein is a Republican appointed by Donald Trump James Comey is a Republican appointed by Donald Trump FBI director Ray is a Republican appointed by Donald Trump and Robert Muller is a lifelong Republican so this would have to be a Republican conspiracy so I'm looking for evidence of the Republican conspiracy and all I could find were the kind of statements that you've been arraigned on today so I want to ask you about those statements in the spring of 2016 senator Ted Cruz called Donald Trump a quote sniveling coward a pathological liar and a serial philanderer was this attack on Trump by Senator Ted Cruz a coordinated part of a deep state conspiracy that you organized no on April 8 August 8 2016 Senator Marco Rubio said Donald Trump was quote unworthy of being our president was this attack part of a deep state conspiracy that you organized no in October of 2016 Speaker Paul Ryan said I am NOT going Donald Trump not now not in the future was this fleeting outburst of moral courage part of a deep state conspiracy that you organized no former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Donald Trump a former EPA Administrator Scott Pruett said he's an empty vessel when it comes to the Constitution Steve Bannon said he's like an 11 year old child general HR McMaster referred to Donald Trump reportedly as a dope in an idiot with the intelligence of a kindergartner Karl Rove called him a complete idiot representative Duncan Duncan Hunter said he's an a-hole but he's our a-hole and the director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn reportedly sent out an email describing Trump is an idiot surrounded by clowns were all of these vituperative negative characterizations of Donald Trump part of a deep state GOP conspiracy engineered by you and your friends know where any of these statements part of a conspiracy you organized know now although this conspiracy does appear to be overwhelmingly Republican if it exists balance compels me to ask you about my hero Bruce Springsteen unlike the others who are all Republicans Springsteen's a Democrat and he said the Republic is under siege by a did you tell him to say that no was it part of a deep state conspiracy to criticize the president no mr. struck this hearing has been a circus in a kangaroo court run in banana Republican fashion and I believe that some of my colleagues have disgraced themselves today in their attack on the FBI in the justice system of America how can we recover from the hole that has been dug here today sir America's strong I have however bad I think I've seen it in my life I am confident that the institution's the American people will endure and be great I have full faith in the United States that all the men and women and I even in times of trial and tribulation I have every confidence that we will emerge is as great as we've ever been and well I'm with you and thank you for your service to America yes sir the recognizes the gentleman from Florida mr. gates for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman you've said repeatedly today that you were not biased but bob muller kicked you off his team as a consequence of your bias didn't he sir I wouldn't agree with that characterization I think I answered earlier my understanding was that and again we there were no words spoken about this but it was the potential appearance that he wanted to avoid as much as anything Bob Muller say I'm not firing you from this team from your bias I'm getting about so so what is your basis for the belief that it's the appearance of your bias rather than your actual bias that results are in muller removing you because I think his experience both with me my work and the reputation of others about me and my work they know that I am an individual who follows the facts with a lay so your testimony today that you were removed not not for bias but for the appearance of bias is based on your perception of Robert Muller's perception of you no sir I'm saying what I what I would think the logical case if you want to know what is let me ask it simply mr. struck did Robert Muller ever ask you if you were biased against Donald Trump he did not did he so he didn't ask you when he hired you no question that gets asked during hiring meetings in the u.s. one would seemingly think that you were hiring someone who investigates something you might ask but certainly then when you were removed was was it clear to you that mr. Muller was aware of these incendiary text messages yes so we knew of the text messages but never asked you whether you were biased or not that's correct your girlfriend texted you on the 8th of August Trump's not ever going to be president right right do you recall your reply I do recall my reply and if I hadn't had been refreshing my recollection than less than four or five times today sir but yes I do recall my report what was it I'm sure you have it I don't want to misstate it by but essentially no no he's not we'll stop it did Bob Muller ever ask you about that text message he did not oh about a week later on August 15th you sent a text message regarding meeting and Andy McCabe's office that right I I don't know the date I do believe I know the text message never asked you what happened in the meeting and Andrew McCabe's office there are many meetings that I attended in MIDI but he did not did Bob Muller asked you what you meant by an insurance policy director Muller did not on the 26th of July this is contemporaneous with the opening of the Trump Russia investigation your girlfriend text to you Clinton just has to win now and you reply a few days later and damn this feels momentous because this matters the other one did too but that was to ensure we didn't f something up this matters because this matters so super be glad to be on this voyage with you did Bob Muller ask you why this matters if you're asking why it mattered it was I'm not hired so not winning a case about this but that is not what I'm asking you I want to know if Bob Muller asked you about this text message director Muller did not ask me about any text message congressman well gosh what I mean just days after Muller's appointed in two text messages one on the 19th of May and one on the 22nd of May you reference impeachment did Bob Muller ask you why you were referencing impeachment the congressman as I just stated director Muller did not ask me about any text message I find that very interesting that Bob Muller has to remove you as a consequence of bias now you don't say it's bias you say that based on your perception of Bob Miller's perception of you it couldn't possibly be your bias it has to be the appearance of bias but when we get into actually the manifestation of that bias through your words Bob Muller doesn't ask you about a single one of them and so then I look at other people that Bob Muller picked on his team people like Lisa Paige I'm very curious to know whether or not he asked her about any of her incendiary text messages I mean but but throughout the team you've got people working for Bob Muller who have active connections to the clip to Hillary Clinton you know Greg Anders into the Clinton campaign Kyle Ferrini donated to the Clinton campaign Andrew goldstein donated to the Clinton campaign Elizabeth pre Guillard donated to the Clinton campaign James Quarles donated to the Clinton campaign Jean Erie represented ben rhoades during the Benghazi investigation he represented the Clinton Foundation against Freedom of Information Act requests Andrew Weissman the number two for Mahler attended the Hillary Clinton's election night party Andrew Aaron Zellaby represented Justin Cooper who is the person who set up Hillary Clinton's private email surgery server and then there's you and miss Paige and it's just really interesting to me that when you were so damaging to the investigation that you had to go that bob muller the person who brought in all these people that that had connections to hillary clinton campaign did not ask you about a single text message and i tend to believe mr. chairman that it's because he did not want to know the answer and that there was bias and that your perception of bob Muller's perception of you is totally unreliable and i yield back time the gentleman has expired the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida Ms Demings for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck let me just clear this up right now I am NOT angry and I'm not desperate and I'm not afraid of the truth but I am in pursuit of it first of all I want to thank you for your service to our country through the Federal Bureau of Investigations and for your service to our country through the United States Army mr. chairman each of us as members of Congress took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States my oath as a member of Congress was not the first that I took it was the third oath for I served as a law enforcement officer for 27 years and like the employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice I swore to protect this country and to remember uphold rule of law we have now wasted countless hours of our very limited and precious time chasing these phantoms wasting both the witness's time and our own the Inspector General's report must have been a very big disappointment to the President and to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle let me say this law enforcement officers and you said it earlier mr. struck not only do they have political opinions but they are encouraged to have them and as a chief of police I encourage them to have them and express them perhaps but but their expression never interfere with their ability to conduct their job perhaps Congress could learn something from members of the law-enforcement community because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle allow political bias to influence their judgment every day and perhaps they should read and all members of Congress should read the ethics manual for Congress the IG report said and I quote we found no evidence that the conclusions by Department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations unquote president Trump's and his enablers conspiracy theory about the Department of Justice and the FBI have been investigated and after hours today they have still been debunked the president's own campaign manager is currently sitting in jail awaiting trial on multiple charges and there is enough evidence as we've already seen that results in five guilty pleas the truth hurts but no matter how you hate it and no matter how much it hurts it's not going away that's the real story here and we need to keep our eyes on the ball and not chase ghosts through the halls of the Department of Justice while letting the important work of both of these committees go undone but since we're here mr. Strutt I want to get your reaction to the president's tweet on December 3rd of 2017 after years of call me with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation running the FBI its reputation is in tatters worse than history there he goes as always the biggest always the worst but fear not we will bring it back mr. Strock do you agree that the FBI's reputation is in tatters and is the worst in history not at all do you agree with the characterization that the Clinton investigation was phoney and dishonest no were you the sole decision maker on this case no in your opinion what kind of impact do statements like this because I do care about how it infects the law enforcement community apparently my friends on the other side of the a lie never thought as a law enforcement officer I'd ever have to defend the Department of Justice from my Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle what kind of effect do statements like this have on the morale on the good men and women who do a tough job every day congresswoman I think they have a significant impact on the morale of the men and women of the FBI I would tell you that regardless of what is going on swirling around them that my experience the agents and analysts and others that I work with are focused on the job and their mission so there's a lot swirling around and agents tune that out and and focus and do their job but inevitably the the kind of perception and the things that are being said are heard and are damaging because people know they're simply not true so they're not helpful but I have every faith in confidence in the FBI and the age to the FBI and and what we do every single day thank you I know I yield back the chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia mr. heiss for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman I'd like to discuss a little bit of the wiener laptop discovery you have explained there was a significant delay from the time that information was discovered in which obviously hundreds of thousands by your own words hundreds of thousands of emails were discovered potentially pertinent to the Hillary Clinton email investigation there was a delay there and you have explained in the past that the delay was caused simply because you were too busy what were you doing during October 2016 that caused you to be so busy sir I wouldn't call it a significant delay I don't think it was caused because I was too busy the answer your question in the fall of 2016 I was a deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division I had responsibilities you've explained that you are global sir yes but explain what I was doing I was busy overseeing thousands of cases every espionage case in the FBI every economic espionage case in the FBI every case having were you an officer u.s. a question man that's what and I'm going to reclaim my time were you involved in the Russian investigation that at that time as well that was aspects of that were one of the many things that were under mine so you were you were involved with it inspector general Horowitz expressed concern that so many individuals from the Clinton investigation major team were assigned to the Russian investigation people like you who made that decision for the people from the mid year team to go to the Russian investigation sir I was deputy assistant director to counterintelligence efficient I'm the number two if there's something large going on in CI chances are I'm gonna have a role in it so it isn't working a case but the decision to assign me was certainly made absolutely by my boss other people were in the EAD how many other people went to the the Russian case sir I can't get in those specific numbers I can tell you of the senior manager several of the senior managers were involved but this is one of the points I disagree with the inspector general is he doesn't appreciate the staffing in the context of the love anyone in here in the eye or the DOJ question the overlap of personnel between the two cases not that I'm aware of so no one questioned it at the end of October you were finally brought to the point to pursue the laptop information and to make it public days before the election did your involvement at that time with the Russian election interference cease when the Clinton email case was reopened nope okay so you you continued working on the Russian case while also leading the reopened Hillary Clinton case a colleague of mine a co-lead and I were bringing the team back together again sir if I may because it's important I think people have a misunderstanding at that time I'm a Deputy Assistant Director all right yes sir you have multiple layers of people though below that are doing that I understand that but a month before you told the IG that you're Russia workload prevented you from addressing the issue on the laptop discovery and that's not what I said you have time for both according out what I said versus so days before the election you're investigating two key investigations in a time lapse of nearly a month goes by where there are hundreds of thousands of emails directly related to the email of Hillary Clinton and her campaign ignored until days before the election and only when the New York group demands what let me ask you this where any of your superiors concerned of the overlap that the time was water was going onto the bridge my know my recollection is that all of us were concerned about the volume of material that we had Oh Angela page said that he was precise that you had not reviewed the laptop before October 3rd you're misrepresenting said you a report you're misrepresenting with State I'm using the IG report mccabe said he was surprised that you had not reviewed the laptop information James Baker general counsel said he was his understanding that that information was being handled James Comey felt that the entire credibility of the bureau rested on that case and what gets me how is it possible that you could handle both of these cases perhaps two of the most important cases in the history of this country at least in recent history how in the name of justice does the FBI allow someone so biased as yourself to lead these two investigations at the same time where both end up are being compromised both tainted justice apparently not happening in either case you deliberately from all appearance delayed the checking into the Hillary Clinton emails on the Weiner laptop until after the election or as close thereof and it's just corruption through and through and mr. Chairman I yield back chairman may I respond briefly since it wasn't posed who has a question sir briefly nothing was compromised in those investigations there are a team of folks above and below me that were involved I was the number two in the counterintelligence division if it was important I had a role in the oversight of that there are people below me senior executive service members unit chief supervisory agents in the field office a sacs supervisors case agents all who are working on this to the aspect and there are many things you said about the AG's report that we if not there were absolutely misrepresentations the response and the facts if you look at them in the report is that within hours of hearing from New York that there was potential material that was relevant I had assigned subordinate supervisors attorneys and others to look into it which they in turn did within hours as a result less than a day after finding out about it I had set into motion a team who had nothing to do with the Russian investigations to pursue that information they came back and said New York still working on it and my assumption from there was that day having been assigned that task its you're a representation of the IG port that's an act that the time of the gentleman has expired the chair recognizes Jen from Arizona mr. Gosar for five minutes mr. struck are you familiar with the FBI domestic investigation and operations guide known as the di oggi a dog yes sir okay now this is a policy manual that sets forth the rules you are to follow and deciding to pursue an investigation correct yes sir and you agree that the di oggi guidelines applied to your investigation of President Trump and the 2016 election correct yes sir and the DI oj g policy 8.1 requires that all FBI employees shall comply with policies quote isn't that correct sir I believe that's absolutely true I don't know the site but you're aware of that yes okay now you no doubt are aware the DOJ also issues investigation guidance instructions correct yes now specifically DOJ guidance dated March 9th 2012 states that federal federal quote employees are entrusted with the authority to enforce the laws of the United States and with responsibility to do so in a neutral and impartial manner this is particularly important in an election year end of quote are you aware of this guidance I am NOT but I believe it and it adhere to it yes so I just want to make sure because this is really important because Attorney General Holder issued these instructions to all federal law enforcement agencies to conduct their investigations in a neutral and impartial manner particularly in an election year so once again you're kind of familiar sir I don't recall that specific instruction I focus on FBI policy but that that direction from the department if it's in force I readily accept and you understand why federal employees are supposed to be politically neutral yes yes everything he says went on this and your anti-trump texts statements are not neutral correct I believe from the perspective of investigating in a politically neutral way I did that every single day once again my johner text statements are not politically neutral that's correct yes okay and your investigation activities were in fact taking place in an election year correct yes you in fact stated that you intended to quote stop Trump from becoming president in a clear violation of the FBI di oggi and DOJ guidance wouldn't that be correct that's absolutely incorrect sir no that wouldn't because that shows a strict bias sorry politically charged well let me give you a little better situation then person or candidate Trump made some comments on the travel ban did he not I called a variety of college you got a good memory and it was used on all but against him by all the lower courts wasn't it sir my nose you know you're very well you're you understand this very well sir so it was used against him and upheld in all the lower courts until the Supreme Court and guess what why is it different for him than you sir no difference here is no difference it's right are you the difference between Healy and you is you put it in black and white sir the difference between me and him and again I'm not an attorney you have somebody who's making he's not an attorney either based on protected class in terms of the passage of a federal law which is wildly demonstrably different from an individual who's expressing a personal political belief i it is stunning that that difference we believe any outside observers you used your political belief in black and white in a text message we've I was bad in my previous question running up to it okay I got just very little time here so you said about a bias this morning I watched I by the way I'm a dentist okay so I read body language very very well and I watched you a comment and actions with mister you got very angry in regards to the gold star father that shows me that it's innately a part of you and a bias sir I disagree I don't know if you're saying this is clearance is like being at the dentist if that's what you're suggesting would I would tell you sir in my response what you see in my response is a genuine passion for the United States of America what you see is a passion as a patriot i'ma let you see is it I got it I got two more quiet up side oh man I got two more is gonna controls the time I got two more questions for you if you're in a jury box and somebody sees these text messages you're removed from the jury box are you not sir I can you are late by the way you are by the way they are in the last comment this morning you are a smart individual we are not a democracy we are a constitutional republic that is why we have two ways both from a democracy voting and then from the where we have the Electoral College so make sure the time of the gentleman has expired regular order the chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana mr. Johnson for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck you've taken great offense today at questions about your credibility but for many of us that's the real issue here and I think it is for the American people as we've been sitting here all day I've been getting text messages from constituents back home and they're very concerned about this it's this this whole thing has been described as shameful and a train wreck and it feels that way to many of us here's I've got I'm playing cleanup here many of us will hear at the end let me ask you a smattering of questions number one here's what you and miss page exchanged the night that Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination in in late 2016 you wrote or she wrote to you holy blank Cruz just dropped out of the race it's going to be a Clinton Trump race unbelievable you responded what she writes back you heard right my friend now you said now the pressure really starts to finish my e which we know now is the FBI code name for the Clinton email investigation and she writes back in risk it sure does so here's our problem you two are the most influential FBI personnel on the Clinton investigation and within hours of Donald Trump securing the Republican nomination you text to her okay now the pressure really begins now we really have to finish the Clinton investigation and she agrees and she says it sure does here's the question why did you have to finish it up so fast what we all referring to why was it was it to stop President Trump not at all so she there was she was not one of the two most influential people in the investigation the purpose of that text was not at all having anything to do with candidate Trump or candidate Clinton that had everything to do with director Comey's sense an urgency to try and resolve the investigation as soon as we could to get the FBI in the investigation out of the presidential race we're using were you slow walking it prior to that absolutely not but there was there was a constant sense of urgency and I think everybody on the team everybody in the senior executive management the FBI understood that the closer and closer and the longer and longer the investigation took that we continued thanks to the actions of some including some of the candidates to be inserted into as an issue in the presidential that we're not I'm sorry because this is my time we're not supposed to associate this in any way with all of your many other volumes of text all the negative weight all the disparaging things you said about Donald Trump as a candidate and the fact that you said we'll stop it so those two things are not related in any way at all Rockman i understand your concern and those are your constituents what I'm telling you under oath is that that expression was what I just told you it was a desire from the highest levels of the bureau throughout the team to get us out of the process of the general election okay let me move on did you ever find personally did you ever find evidence of collusion or conspiracy as you've said to sit today between then candidate Trump and Russia sir I can't based on the direction of the FBI I cannot comment on ongoing investigation you said in your text of May 18 2017 you concluded quote there is no there there what were you referring to sir I said part of my concern is there might not be a there there and as I mentioned earlier I think is certainly at the beginning as we looked at the allegations there are a wide range essential things that were going on on one end it was that there was nothing that there was no illegal activity there was absolutely no conspiracy to do anything moving up to potentially individuals good doing things that are illegally based on individual agendas and on the very far and some of the things that might be in the worst case in the worst case things which might lead to impeachment but I was approaching that with a very open mind not knowing where the facts lair or where they might lead and some of that saying hey there is a reasonable chance there is a reasonable realistic set of things which might indicate there's nothing going on here okay look you said several times today that every American has a political bias but not every American has your level of responsibility the duty the extraordinary level of responsibility that you had on behalf of the American people and our entire system of justice depends upon equal and impartial justice under the law don't you agree with that I absolutely agree on that look you spoken in lofty terms today about ethics and honesty and integrity and yet by every objective measure the public record of your actions will I those virtues and the inspector general's report concluded that your conduct demonstrated quote extremely poor judgment and a gross lack of professionalism why should this committee why should my constituents back home why should the American people trust you as a credible witness sir I regret and I'm sorry for the way that those texts have cast my actions into question and those of the FBI and the investigations what I am Telling You and what I'd ask you to relay to constituents is to look at the facts beyond the set aside the texts look at what the IG found look at the actions the actions that I took the actions with all due respect all done with all due respect we cannot separate the texts from that question because the texts were written during the investigation while you were in charge of these investigations while you're the most responsible important person in these investigations at many times and we cannot separate your personal views and bias from the facts as they developed that's our problem and at the end of the day that's what we're all still very concerned about even after all these hours of here's what I would tell you sir is look at the time of the gentleman has expired that was a statement not a question Thank You mr. chairman Oh a gentleman from Oklahoma mr. Russell's recognized for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. structor you've stated today quote I do not think that bias was expressed in those text messages and quote inspector general Horowitz stated in his report that those derogatory texts were quote not only indicative of a bias state of mind end quote but were also quote antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice unquote he stated further that such actions implicated quote provisions in the FBI's offensive code and penalty guidelines and quote and referred information to the FBI for adjudication which is still outstanding you stated today quote at no time did personal beliefs enter into decisions I made in quote yet mr. Horowitz reports stated quote an assessing strux decision to prioritize the Russian investigation over following up on the mid-year related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop in October 2016 these text messages led us to conclude that we did not have confidence that Struck's decision was free from bias and quote you stated today that culture training and policy prevent bias in the FBI they would be noted and stopped the Justice Department ethical guidelines state the following quote superiors may never send to subordinate employees and an email directed at the success or failure of a political party partisan political group or partisan candidate and quote another one quote express opinions about the candidates and issues if the expression is political activity directed at the success or failure of a political party candidate or partisan political office or partisan political group the expression is not permitted while the employee is on duty end quote the FBI domestic investigations and operation guide in Section 3.1 because we've heard so much about the adherence of policies and what these things do that's why it's important to quote them and I quote in section 3.1 we who enforce the law must not merely obey it this is the FBI guideline we have an obligation to set a moral example that those whom we protect can follow because the FBI is success in accomplishing its mission is directly related to the support and cooperation of those we protect these core values are the fiber that holds together the vitality of our institution end quote mr. struck given the extramarital relationship and types of derogatory communication officially exchanged with FBI counsel lisa page as laid out in the IG report did these actions exhibit a quote moral example that those whom the FBI protects can follow end quote sir thanks for your question I noticed your CIB and I want to thank you for your service I've had decades of it myself yes sir I would tell you I am NOT proud I am assured the policies guide your behavior for these actions serve for the bulk of my professional actions every day of my life they did these actions I did had no bias and yet we heard from mr. Horowitz IG report that they concluded that there was and now we see an extramarital relationship and types of derogatory communications officially exchanged that does not appear to exhibit the actions that would exhibit a moral example for those whom the FBI protects do you believe it does sir I would I would respond sir no I disagree profoundly with ins with the FBI okay I believe that that in Section three point one point one and I quote in general the FBI requires employees to report known or suspected failures to adhere to the law rules or regulations by themselves or other employees to any supervisor in the employees chain of command end quote you knew your conduct was wrong not only in the use of Texas the forwarding of political emails the forwarding of links all of that is laid out and is wrong sir none of it is wrong and also that the extra mayor relationship could place you outside of what would be proper for an FBI agent so my question is did you make any attempt to report your conduct to the chain of command sir yes my conduct in Kanda conducts you make to the chain of command my conduct of the investigations was always oh and we can see Robert was over I thank you reclaiming my time and mr. chairman my closing remarks I addressed to you I don't have any further comment that I need or any other questions to be answered FBI agents are required to adhere to strict standards of conduct and exemplify the FBI's core competencies including communication respect leadership and compassion problem-solving judgment the IG found that the use of official devices to send messages intermixing work-related discussions and political commentary demonstrated extremely poor judgment and gross lack of professionalism the powers of government are drawn from the people's consent the executive branch draws its law enforcement powers not only from that consent but most importantly from the trust to will such power without prejudice and with integrity mr. chairman we've heard a lot about ethics patriotism and service today we are all accountable for our actions I am mindful of the words of Christ and Luke you shall know a tree by its fruit from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and I yield back my time to You mr. chairman chair thanks gentlemen and the gentleman from Arizona mr. Biggs is represent as for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck you've worked as a criminal investigator for at least 20 years in that right national security investigator primarily see I work which within the bureau we differentiate criminal which is but you're you're you did you're familiar with criminal investigations right and you understand that as you're aggregating evidence you're looking for a couple areas number one you're looking to see if there's an act the act is rias of a crime right yes you're also looking for a culpable mental state of a crime right yes you have to demonstrate the couple in the state mental state if you're going to bring a case forward right intentional knowingly reckless etc right you almost always yes almost yeah unless there's some kind of strict liability right and you'd agree that short of some statement against interest most of the time the culpable mental state of either intentional or knowingly that's that's usually done through circumstantial evidence correct I hesitate to generalize I would I trust is trust me it is it is because short of someone making a statement against interest you've got a proof that they intended not only the all of every element of the offense right or knowingly did that offense that that has to be proved and oftentimes it's by circumstantial evidence which by the way there's a jury instruction typically that goes forward that says there's no qualitative difference between circumstantial evidence and direct evidence you'd agree with that statement right I'm not an attorney I I would've been in many times right well I'm tiring educated recitations of legal terms that I I don't have the education to be okay well it's about okay well trust me on that if you're representing to me yes accurate is that right and then this morning you said and then you've this has been a theme and and I don't know how mean I'm team times you said it by I wrote down the one quote you gave to chairman Goodlatte you said quote my text messages are not indicative of biased close quote do you still hold to that position I do okay now as we go forward here when the FBI is trying to put together circumstantial evidence of a culpable mental state they're looking at things such as text messages they're looking at things such as communications between people for whatever reason right you'd agree with that I would yeah and so that indicates someone's mental state that you're gonna take before a jury where you're going to say by beyond a reasonable doubt we can demonstrate either intentional or knowing by this series this cumulation of circumstantial evidence right rephrase the question please sir I'm not them okay this is not hard I so when you're trying to prove a culpable mental state most of it's coming from circumstantial evidence very rarely unless you've got a confession right and so you're taking accumulation of various pieces of evidence and you're saying look this this adds up to intentional or knowingly right so one of the things that's been made evident here is that your statements and your communications with Miss Paige was it wasn't a one-off it wasn't - it wasn't three this is a whole series it's a whole series that goes on not not for a day or a week this goes on for a long period of time is that not true it is true yeah and so when people begin to say was there bias on the part of Peter struck they're not saying oh gee on this one just on August 8th they're going for a whole accumulation and aggregation of various statements that you made and that Miz Paige made as well so that leads us to the IG statement so when the Inspector General comes in and I asked him the question I said look you've said regarding mr. mr. struck in his page you didn't find documentary testimony evidence that they that they had improper considerations including political bias directly affecting I said that's directly affecting because they you said they weren't the sole decision makers I said did they indirectly affect it he said yeah why because he said you were the lead investigator the lead investigator of the Hillary Clinton you were that you were the liaison if you will you were the flow of information from from the investigative team that you've said there's lots of them and I kind of actually sketched a kind of a Venn diagram of how this this works organizational chart is worse as you were describing it earlier today you were the gatekeeper of information lisa page was providing counsel to Andrew McCabe on the Russian investigation you were the head guy you're the head guy we now we have accumulation of biased information that indicates some kind of mental state of bias and not the other other end of this we've got it that you're the head guy in these that's what the Inspector General said under oath in testimony not too many weeks ago sir mr. chairman if I may respond I think there's no question before you I want to correct some inaccurate things I didn't say anything inaccurate witness the witness needs to be able to answer mr. chairman mr. chairman when aspersions are cast on the witness table old they're worse every phrase everyone will suspicion everyone will suspend and the time of the gentleman has expired and the chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin mr. Grothman for five sir may I respond to the gentleman who Joe you may not the gentleman from Wisconsin has the time mr. chairman you have said throughout this hearing that at the conclusion of the questioning the witness would be permitted to respond is that there's no change that's not true mr. chairman well he has a response he'd like to give to the committee you know throughout the day that was the procedure now your gentlemen make a gentleman is the gentleman is completely out of order no miss it's a tunnel no those time belongs to the gentleman from Wisconsin and he may proceed mr. chairman you indicated you must remember that you answer your question chair has recognized egg of you to allow the gentleman and the end of this long hearing to be able to explain conflicts in representation that have been made by various persons on the panel the gentleman was caught well it seems to me that on advice of counsel a lot of the things we want to find out here today we're not going to find out but I'd like to focus a little bit on the milieu in which you operate in the FBI when I look at this area around Washington DC I look and we had a candidate run for president who ran on the promise to drain the swamp when I look at the election results in the areas in which you and other people who work for the government around here live I see a monolithic almost monolithic mindset that that can be illustrated in the election results in the area things that given the country as a whole was almost half for the candidate who wanted to drain this tree in the swamp and half for the candidate who didn't you look District of Columbia four percent for Donald Prince George County 8% Arlington Virginia 17 Alexandria 18% I mean things that in Wisconsin 72 colonies and normally we're about a 50/50 state there's not one County in which you have that everybody voting together so I want to I want to dig into a little bit about the milieu in which what you hang around with now at the time where Mr McCabe who I believe was Miss pages boss at the time his wife ran for Congress I was Congress there was maybe as a state estate state elected position you referred to people who lived in a county just beyond Washington DC a little bit more normal still a Democratic County you referred to them as this county Loudoun County is being gentrified but it's still largely ignorant hillbillies now I don't mean to embarrass you in that because it doesn't surprise me that people in this swamp would refer to people once you get a couple hours away from Washington as ignorant Hillbillies it wouldn't surprise me if somebody was it advertently got a hold of emails and people were saying that in the newsroom at MSNBC it wouldn't surprise me if they were saying it in the Department of Interior the Department of Education it disappoints me a little bit that they were saying it in in the FBI but I'm gonna ask you in the areas of which people you you congregate in your business how you obviously talked about politics how many people do you run into say in the Washington office here who are overtly supporting President Trump when you say in the office who circle so a couple of things and I you may not have been here this morning I certainly I do not view the people allowed in counties ignorant hillbillies I live in adjacent County and much like in Wisconsin you might well folks have noted with a sense of rivalry like you I regret that statement and I know you regret I know you say the officer I don't understand what you mean by around the office people who you work with on a daily basis I don't tend to know who they support sir well it's apparent in the emails that used to exchange miss page that not only with regard to her opinions but with me you could obviously the McCabe's were very political in nature you must have some general opinions of the politics that people you work around you were not shy about sharing your political opinions right my sense is the the FBI including me is a very conservative typically organization they believe in law and order they believe in a strong national yeah I'm gonna stay when it comes traditionally sir that the draining the swamp or otherwise I'm sorry sir in areas in which I've worked in the past prior to getting involved in politics I could almost always tell you or have an opinion where people come down to on these issues you are not shy about talking about politics I want to know in this social circle that you hang around with including at work maybe you get it home do you ever run into people who would have ordered for President Trump people as you know yes would you guess in the FBI like I said we rattled off the percentage of people voting for President Trump and the surrounding counties looks like overall maybe less than one in six just amazing could you comment again on your comment largely ignorant Hillbillies and there are a lot of people think like you in this swamp okay it's not unusual probably a lot of lobbyists probably feel that way congressional staffers could you comment in general on the political viewpoint of the people who work in the Washington office with you the general perspective as I just said sir the most FBI agents in my experience tend to be strongly concerned outside of Wang Li lawn in Washington DC strongly conservative strongly law-and-order strongly national defense up until the current day very strongly Republican I I don't know I couldn't tell you what people did or didn't vote fire this election because we don't tend to talk about that it's the amount of time the chair recognizes the gentleman from California mr. Gomez for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. stroke you've been on the hot seat for a number of hours I just wanted to give you an upper triangle - sir I appreciate that and and one thing two things one with regard to the IG and what they found to be clear the IG report found no act of bias by me or anybody in the FBI period and he said in his testimony my understanding is the same to the IG found and stated in the report that I was amongst the most aggressive people in pursuing the Hillary Clinton investigation going after Secretary Clinton so those facts are undisputed well they're written down and there's no two ways to try and spin out of those and I don't want to take your time and so I'll try and do this in 15 seconds the insurance policy text that has come up before that text represented a debate on information that we had received from an extraordinarily sensitive source and method and that typically when something is that sensitive if you take action on it you put it at risk and so there's a tension there maybe we should you know just roll slow take a typical three four year counterintelligence investigation because the more aggressive you are the more you put it at risk what and some people said that some people said hey look every poll is saying candidate Trump is likely not to win every Republican we're saying that some people said as a result of that let's not risk this source let's go slow what I advocated for and what I'm saying is look we're the FBI we need to do our job we need to go investigate while it isn't likely according to all the posters and everybody that candidate Trump's going to be elected we need to make sure we are protecting America we need to responsibly and aggressively investigate these accusations because you know what if candidate Trump is elected there might be people we need to be investigating that might be nominated for important national security positions everybody in America would want to know that candidate Trump would want to know so much like that you probably won't die before you're 40 now thank you so that's the that's the meaning sir no thank you so much I got sworn in July 11th 2017 so I am one of the most freshman members of Congress it was about a year ago yesterday and I was excited to be on the Oversight Committee because I believe that Congress has responsibility to be a check on the executive branch but that's when it's being honest in its purpose right I don't believe our committees led by the majority has been honest in its purpose because if it has been it would be treating requests by the minority with as much importance as their own they won't so I have a question it's a it's a it's it's a rhetorical question why is it that the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee have refused to issue a single subpoena to compel documents or witnesses from the Trump administration on any topic other than this one it's because they don't believe and they don't care to discover the truth they are using this process to throw more red meat to their base in order to turn it out for the midterms and to protect a president that has no moral authority to lead this country you know so it is kind of embarrassing I've been watching this this farce and the circus for the last five hours and I wonder to myself you know what are people thinking that there's grown men and women shouting over each other insulting one another yeah they try to dress it up with saying the gentleman from North Carolina the gentlelady from California but it's all a farce and the American people know it you know we've asked for subpoenas for a variety of issues Commerce Department and the Census Bureau withholding documents on citizenship question Department of Justice withholding documents on requesting at a citizenship question the Department of Justice with hoenn documents on politicized hiring allegations for immigration judges Department of Homeland Security and Department justice withholding documents on gag orders against whistleblowers White House withholding information on charter flights the list goes on there's about 12 of them but they have never issued a subpoena except on this and the American people should ask why why why and it's and the reason is because they're not interested in finding the truth or making sure that we hold this administration accountable it's all for tossing red meat to their base and yeah you know what we should never talk ill about anybody you know in any particular part of our country but this president has lowered that standard he questions immigrants he questions the allegiance of judges the FBI and that my opinion is insulting and I think that we need to grow up and show that the American people that were here to act as a responsible branch of government and I yield back the chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida mr. Rutherford for five minutes like mr. chairman mr. struck when when I hear you talk about your passion for America I I believe you I I can see that passion when you talk about your love for the FBI I see it I believe it when you talked about your your your faith in the American electorate I believe that now what what concerns me is you you said that you didn't trust the election to quote you you didn't trust the election after Russia put their finger on the scale remember saying that earlier that I don't believe that's exactly what I said sir I said I think I said something slightly different but I recall that equation but but that was your I don't think that was the meaning sir my the meaning was I was very concerned that Russia was attempting to do that I I pray I pray Russia had put their finger on the scale I don't recall well what I said specific you can find it later but I wrote it down okay I so happy to tell you what I put and what I want to ask you is do you think that justifies then you mr. McCabe at lease a page to correct that wrong that you perceived was done by the FBI that never happened and that would not happen let me ask you the AG's report that I am right here you said that political bias did not impact your professional actions you said that earlier in this meeting as well let me give you a little background in a text message sent on August 15th and this has been discussed earlier you wrote to Lisa page I want to believe the path you threw out in Andy's office that there is no way he gets elected but I'm afraid we can't take that risk it's like an insurance policy and the unlikely event you die before you're 40 yes sir certainly remember that you've heard a lot the reason was there anyone else in that meeting I'm sure there was I don't remember who but so you don't remember who all was there were there were inordinate number of meetings where the government we had meetings I I don't remember for this particular meeting who was there I I could look at my notes before those people that were in that meeting with you are no longer working for the FBI are they I don't know that mr. McCabe was there you don't know that mr. McCabe was in the office he was in the office my recollection of that meeting is that we had had a briefing to the director sometimes after briefings like that the director will stay behind with his very senior staff like the general counsel and the deputy and if we have other matters to discuss that don't merit the importance of the directors time we'll go down to the deputy's office and wait for him to return so he may have been there he may not have been there I don't recall but mr. McCabe is no longer working in the FBI is that correct that is correct how about Lisa page she's not anybody else it was in that meeting that you recall that no longer works at the UH possibly mr. Baker but I don't know if he was in the meeting or not okay let me ask you that's that's it I don't think mr. rebecky went on either okay let let me ask did you present the original FISA application No uh so sir what a when I assume you were talking about the FISA application on Carter page that they limited the bill or I think it's a question I did not where were you in the courtroom no okay and do you and then there were three renewals correct sir I'm not certain I can discuss that without divulging classified information and I don't know that have been clearance given clearance by the FBI to discuss that okay well mr. Rosen Stein was here it admitted that he signed the third renewal I certainly defer to his statement sir and he signed that third renewal but amazingly to me mr. struck because apparently because of the information that was in that renewal he would he would not admit that he actually read the document do you know of any falsehood any half-truth any any misinformation that was in that third renewal that would preclude him from being able to say he read it signed it and approved it I have no information about the Deputy Attorney General and and what he did or didn't do or why he did or did not do anything okay you said that political bias didn't affect your your work but the FBI and DOJ were both admonished for misconduct in the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens right that's right I don't I was not involved in that investigation I don't okay well former director that time of the gentleman has expired the witness can answer the question do you know that they're undergoing training right now for political bias that the FBI is that correct I understand that that was a recommendation in the IG report like that the time you're back expired the chair recognizes the gentleman from Alabama mr. Palmer for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck despite your assert a shion's that the IG report did not in any way indicate bias I would disagree with that but also on page 424 of the inspector general's report he said that we therefore refer this information to the FBI for its handling and consideration of whether the message is sent by the five employees of whom your one listed above violates the FBI's offense code of conduct are you under review by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility yes sir thank you in January 2014 the Inspector General for the intelligence community mr. Charles McCullough sent out a letter and indicated that he had received two sworn declarations from one intelligence community element these declarations cover several dozen emails contain classified information determined by the intelligence community element to be at the confidential secret and top secret special access program levels which was were you aware of this letter what was the date 11 January 14 2016 I don't recall it now but I may have known it at the time correspondents like that sir we had a team of anywhere from 20 to 60 people so well this is I understand that you can't know everything and I get it and and I and I also want you to understand I'm not going to be in necessarily in attack mode because I I want to get some answers absolutely this is a very very serious problem that's raised by this letter whether it's confidential secret top secret but certainly special access program your former military correct yes certain you can understand then the danger that this could pose for for our men and women in armed in harm's way yes sir okay this was January and then and again on March 4th you send the text saying that Hillary should win a hundred million to nothing then I'm a fourth as when you said now the pressure really starts to finish the mid-year evaluation at what point in there was the memo change from gross negligence to extremely careless sir I was in May I'm not gonna be able to give you an honor I can't give you a breakdown of what occurred before and I understand you've been here a long time and and so if we but but it was in May okay and and and what appears here and and it's in the context of the need to finish the mid-year investigation is that Donald Trump had just won the primary he it was obvious that he was going to be the Republican nominee and and I believe you when you say you're a patriot I believe that you care deeply about the country and I can see how you and some of your colleagues were concluded that it's in the best interest to change it from gross negligence to extremely careless because you couldn't you you just couldn't comprehend a president Trump or in your mind the danger that that that might post because that would happen sir well something happened to change this from gross negligence because to extremely careless because extremely Karras is not prosecutable I can tell you why it happened if you'd like me to answer but I don't want to take your time if you don't I know what the Inspector General said he thought happened he said it was changed because it wasn't prosecutable because it's not in the code the Espionage Act doesn't have anything in the criteria for extremely careless so I think again you know trying to give you some credit for your patriotism and your desire to do what's best for the country I can I mean our history is replete with people who've made decisions that they thought were the right decisions at the time they got outside the lines and and the the text messages and the fact that that clearly there is a bias and I get it we all have biases it's what we do with them it's how we act on them how we were able to compartmentalize these things that that determine the course of things really the course of history one of the in the last few seconds here I want to tell you that I appreciate the fact that you sought forgiveness from your family I appreciate the fact that you realize that you have severely damaged the reputation of the FBI and we're not here about the FBI we're about here about you and what you I literally sat here and I mean this sincerely and prayed for you and your family because that that I can't imagine what your family's feeling going through this and I'm not gonna question your integrity but I will say this to you and I hope this is constructive I hope you take it as constructive as I've watched your body language as I've watched your facial expressions it's almost as though you've enjoyed this this is a competition for you in many respects even now I don't think you're I'm not gonna say your problems a lack of integrity I think it's it's a problem with hubris and I think you need to take that into account in regard to how you handle this going forward because it it it it makes it more difficult for us to they give you the benefit of the doubt time of the gentleman mr. chairman mr. chairman the mr. gentleman may briefly respond no sir I appreciate your prayers sir I can tell you when you when you look at what happened in the investigation everything was done by the book and you can assure yourself and your constituents and everybody you're talking to when you look at both investigations every notwithstanding what decisions were made at a high level to say something not say something when you look at the investigation what those men and women did everything was done right and by the book and I share your concern about the nature of the classified information we found a bunch TS special access program confidential and secretly all that was found all that was detailed in director Comey statement so I appreciate but in regard to that I want you to understand everybody here whose gentleman's time has expired Aaron parliamentary inquiry gentleman's time has expired Airmen solitary inquiry that they're relating to the rules of this hearing promontory and crew mr. chairman yomo state her parliamentary though the witness had attempted to answer the gentleman's question he was allowed to get that and it's chairman just a moment please on a question that's been asked over and over again about the gross mismanagement gross negligence issue and the witness was not allowed at that time to give the clarification I think there the German gentleman's Clara no woman has not about the gross the gentleman has not stated a part of negligence which was not written by the gentleman as I understand gentleman from Georgia mr. Liz recognized for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman and thank you agent struck for being here I have found your testimony today frankly to be quite remarkable in its disingenuous news and you have shown a disturbing degree of denialism about your actions and the impact of those actions and then we would all agree that everyone does have personal viewpoints that is very true but agent struck there is a very big difference between someone expressing his or her political views generally and someone leading an FBI investigation making highly negative and explosive comments about the actual target of that investigation would you agree that's a yes or no rephrase the question I'd understand it you have a really awesome talent for filibustering and might think about running for the Senate I'll just say again you are in you were the lead investigator one of the lead investigators and you made highly negative and explosive comments about the actual target of an investigation that is distinctly different from an individual expressing his or her political views you were in a position that you needed to be at a higher much higher level of standard and you failed to reach that your assertion that your statements do not constitute bias is well absurd the facts are this the FBI Inspector General testified before this very body that you did indeed exhibit bias and further in his report he detailed numerous examples of investigated steps that were not quote by the books as you just testified what I also find stunning is that someone in your role with the responsibilities that you've had engaged in such grossly unprofessional unacceptable and unethical behavior and now truly ironic it did I hear you say earlier that you're in a senior position in the HR division for the FBI yes ma'am that's very ironic so let me ask you this you were in a supervisory role with the FBI suppose you found out that one of your direct reports was sending the kind of text messages that you were sending about the target of investigate of an investigation that they were working on what action would you take ma'am if they were sending personal opinion about a political matter that's their business I think given my experience to date I would caution them against doing that on the government device that is entirely separate and distinct from an individual that was under that was not a political candidate that was not did not have a kind of personal protection attached to it suppose that you found out that one of your direct reports was having an extramarital affair with a colleague or with someone outside of the bureau what action would you take ma'am it depends if it was in if he was against the FBI's regulation in terms if it was somebody in their chain of command above or below them which is inappropriate or not allowed by regulations I would tell him and report that if it was otherwise permitted in our regulations I would probably talk to him and say hey look you know this I'm aware of this and you need to be aware then you know and just take into consideration what you're doing and the appearance of it so I obviously you understand the gravity of the transgressions you know in engaging in the kind of behavior that you've been engaging in especially with the extramarital affair it opens up an agent to exploitation and even blackmail given the fact that you have and currently hold a high-level security clearance did you ever discuss your relationship with Miss page with HR or anyone around your security clearance they were well aware of it by well then when did they become aware of it well when it was kind of made very public by the media your premise though that it makes it susceptible and blackmail I never never could have been blackmailed or coerced by the nature of that relationship that is not that major of my patreon debate room what I believe good question about that reason that's 30 clearances ask those kinds of questions did you ever advise mr. Muller of your relationship with Miss Paige I did not why it didn't strike me as relevant you have a lot to learn about human resources okay Wow it is absolutely relevant there should have been conversations I find it interesting that there was no discussion that the two of you shouldn't both be together on that same investigation mr. struck no reasonable person could not be concerned about your actions in this investigation no reasonable person could not be concerned about this situation involving yourself so Thank You mr. chairman I yield back the chair recognizes the gentleman from California mr. DeSaulnier for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman thank you for your testimony and your service it's been a long day and I admire your resume I came from a similar background I went to a Catholic High School in a Catholic college I remember going to Holy Cross and having people say the graduates from Harvard and Yale make the laws but the graduates of Holy Cross and Fordham enforced the laws and we always took great pride in that because I think you as well and I having had friends who've served in the Bureau took great pride in that that education reinforced your ethical beliefs in a difficult world where we make all make mistakes and that's part of our humanity so I admire your work I must say I'm discouraged today to have listened to much of this hearing on many levels I'm discouraged because I consider many of the people on the other side of the aisle as friends good friends I must say this reminds me of what it must have been like to sit through the McCarthy hearings I'm waiting for that moment at long last do you have no shame but maybe that's to come having said that I am troubled by the fact that someone in your background did what you did but you and I both leave and we believe in Redemption so I think you have acted in that way today I wanted to ask you a couple just a comment in a question specifically for one case so there's been a consistent conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton email investigation in one of your former colleagues John Giacalone the executive is assistant director for the FBI's national security branch he left the FBI because he was upset that there was a bias in the Clinton case so the conspiracy therapist say theorists say and going quote sideways or quote nowhere by design so he respond in testimony in front of our committee on June 21st and said that these allegations were completely false quote-unquote nonsense quote he said totally inaccurate this is all nonsense almost the whole thing is nonsense I'd have to read it again to definitively say that but from what I recall I didn't leave because I was just gruntled I left because I was broke he continues I loved every minute I spent in the FBI I had one bad day in 25 years and that was on 9/11 and I think it was a bad day for a lot of people and for this country so there's no way I left because I was sideways or because I was disgruntled I was purely the right time for me 25 years in right opportunity I never spoke to anybody that wrote the internet article I don't know who they used it the source this thing he further said explaining the Clinton case from the outset he said quote I fully recognized right at the gate that it was a political bombshell that we meaning the FBI were in a political organization right so I had the referral we were going to open up the case and we were going to wait to put together a team and we were going to conduct a thorough down the middle investigation which is what we did in quotes and then starting again in quotes he said about director Comey he's a straight-ahead guy right I mean and you know if the evidence existed he would have pushed it for prosecution and then about you he said quote there was no indication that he exhibited any bias while he was conducting the investigation while he was working for me he went a hundred and ten miles an hour and we were always looking for new ways to uncover information evidence so I had no indication that he ever even had would politically lean the way I guess some of these text messages show that he Deline at no point in time during my management of this case did he exhibited provide any slight indication of some of those things that were you know posted and put out to the media in quotes we have any comment son your former colleagues comments sir I go through I deeply appreciate them mister Jacqueline is an extraordinary agent with a heart of gold and I I appreciate so just in closing and just curious and not to be redundant but I really want to sort of reiterate you were nonpartisan in your comments and criticisms which i think is fair my dad used to be a state Superior Court judge in Massachusetts and I remember one of my siblings once active in politics put a bumper sticker in his car and he went ballistic there was no question that he was a very committed Republican but he was concerned about the perception so sitting here today after all these hours is there any one thing that you could encapsulate what the bureau could learn from this experience to make sure no one would sit where you're sitting again sure sure there is I deeply my belief is that these texts would never be public and whether reasonable or not they were made public and I deeply regret certainly the the appearance that they created and all the way that manifested itself out personally with regard to the bureau so at the end of the day we're judged on our actions certainly you know what I do with regard to my personal matters is my own business but I would also say I'd take some comfort that when I look at my actions in the workplace that they are proper that they are correct that they were done for the right reasons and done in the right way and so whenever I get ups and downs in this experience I look at that record of work and it gives me considerable comfort that it was done right and well so thank you Thank You mr. chairman are you back the chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania mr. Rothfuss for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. Strock you were the lead investigator in the Clinton email investigation were there ever any searches for emails with the Clinton email comm root on the government data warehouse that would have held data collected to 702 or other FISA authorities sir I would have to think about that I think Kerry for rephrase the question we're there any searches of did you email the IG report talks about servers that were you searched and devices that we were searched we're there ever searches done on the data warehouse system that would contain data collected pursuant to FISA or 702 so when you say data warehouse system we're referring to any FBI data system that would house Pfizer seven in Iraq data yes sir I believe there were there were do you know if anything was found on those not offhand I don't it's not referenced in the IG report whether that was searched on page 96 the AG's reported said that investigators learned late in their review that the FBI considered seeking access to certain highly classified materials that may have included information relevant to the mid year investigation but ultimen ultimately did not do so furthermore unnamed FBI attorney one went so far as to say that review of those materials was necessary to complete mid year and even started to draft a memo about it and per the IG you thought reviewing those emails would have been a logical investigative step who stopped it I don't know it was levels above me my understanding was it was outside the bureau that that was stopped did you object to that I I disagreed I wanted to search it we're getting very close to classified information so I want to be very careful you did you send in an email or a memo to that effect that you said we need to search this sir I don't recall the nature of what that discussion was I remember talking about doing and wanting to do it as a counter telling officer a counter-intel off so did you know if any other non DOJ government officials have reviewed the classified materials in question in this case I don't know did any non DOJ personnel communicate with anyone at the FBI or DOJ or to mid your personnel about this classified material sir I can't I can't answer that question without providing or without saying do you know if anybody on the mid-year team FBI or DOJ ever briefed anyone at the White House about such classified material as a potential related in mid-year I don't know I'm not aware of it but I don't know who well who had the most influence on met your investigators belief that this classified material was ultimately not necessary and will not have a material I'm sure there those are two different questions there's an investigative question which I is the leader of the team which included the senior investigators had a desire to do something and then there was a decision at a much higher level and a different organizational spot that was well above and this was all happening in May of 2016 was there a rush to wrap this up this was not all happening in May of 16 what the IG report this was all coming out in May of 16 sir they were there may have been aspects to that discussion may have 16 but my my recollection is that this was broader than that on page 96 of the IG report it said investigators learned late in their review that the FBI considered seeking access to certain highly classified materials I think this is this when the IG learned about it sir if I'm not mistaken on that reading I sir I don't remember specifically when this came up in the context of mid year I could not tell you when I first became and you were the leader right I was okay did during mid-year exams during mid-year exam did investigators find any emails between Secretary Clinton and President Obama in cleaning including any emails that would have used aliases including any emails emails that would have used aliases yes did any of those emails contain classified information with President Obama between mrs. Clinton and President Obama don't believe so but I would have to verify that with the case file sir do you know if any of those emails were ever intercepted by a foreign actor I don't know on an email sir you talking about emails between Secretary Clinton and President Obama yes emails contain classified know between Secretary Clinton and President Obama I don't know on page four 149 of the IG reported no today found evidence that you advocated for more aggressive tactics in the Clinton investigation like grand jury subpoenas and search warrants ultimately the major team decided to go with the kid-glove approach using consent agreements I can think of some recent high profile examples where federal agents did not use the kid treatment we laid into mid year who specifically had the authority to decide not to use compulsory process to obtain evidence in this Vegas investigation sir I'm certain the IG did not use the phrase kid-glove the decision ultimately about whether or not to issue process rests with the prosecutors so the did anyone outside of the mid your team suggest to the team not to use an aggressive approach there was a constant debate which is normal and healthy between the agents and the attorneys about our aggressive to be my recollection is that anybody outside the made your team don't you're talking with people on this earth not that I know time of the gentleman has expired the witness may answer the question no not to my recollection there was nobody outside the mid year team that was exerting any pressure one way or the other the chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky mr. comer for five minutes Thank You mr. chairman mr. struck Hillary Clinton has said publicly that FBI director James Comey cost her the election do you share Hillary Clinton's opinion sir I don't know I have read a lot of pollsters and a lot of speculation but I don't know it's an important question because you think about Hillary Clinton making a statement like that about the FBI and the FBI director as well as the statements that President Trump has made recently about the FBI now those are the two leaders of each party in the last presidential election so I think it does matter out of curiosity are there any recordings of the interviews of the Clinton email investigation no sir I don't believe we recorded any interviews so none of the interviews were recorded to the best of my recollection sir I'm not I would need to review the case problem but I don't believe anywhere is that normal for an investigation of that size yes mr. truck did you consult with James Comey before he made the decision to go public days before the presidential election with the fact that the FBI was going to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails once it was determined that Anthony Weiner had access to the emails and potentially had access to classified information did you consult with James Comey before he made that decision I was present at meetings where that decision was discussed do you think that was the right decision sir that's also a difficult question I think for all of us it was kind of a 51/49 proposition I came out of that decision comfortable with doing so did miss page consult with James Comey before he made the decision to go public I you'd have to ask her sir I don't know that she did but we hope to get to ask her some questions do you think that James Comey leaked out the well let me let me back up in a text message from you to Miss page you mentioned insurance policy that's been referenced many times today what exactly did you mean by having an insurance policy in case I would assume president Trump won the election or was looking like he was gonna win the election so I appreciate that question because it has taken very much I understand it's ambiguous and that people have taken out of context the insurance policy was merely an analogy to you do something when something isn't likely to happen you're probably not gonna die before you're 40 but you have an insurance policy anyway what we had before us was an allegation that something significant that that members of the Trump campaign may have been working in cooperation of the Russians and some people were saying hey look this sensitive source of information that's so so sensitive so vulnerable we shouldn't put it in danger because sometimes if you go out and do aggressive investigation if it's a drug snitch or intelligence source you can cause significant harm and a lot of people looked and said hey well look all the pollsters everybody in the world is saying it's not likely the president Trump's going to be elected so don't worry about it we can just let this lie I had a different view and I said you know what it doesn't matter whether or not he's going to be elected we need to do our job we're the FBI we need to aggressively go out there pursue the allegations because it's a question do you think that James Comey leaked out about the reopening of the Hillary email investigation because he needed a quote insurance policy to cover his back for pre determining that Hillary Clinton was email was innocent in the email investigation before it ever even began I don't think director Comey leaked anything with regard to that I'm more of with regards to the Clinton investigation I certainly do not think he I or anybody else viewed any investigation or any step in the sense of what you're saying that we needed to do something to prevent any particular action at all with respect to the clear bias of Donald Trump in your text messages and your clear prejudice against the Trump voters and by the way I'm one of those smelly hillbillies from Appalachia that you reference in your text you were in a supervisory role at the FBI what would you do if you found a text from a subordinate of yours that exhibited the same type of bias that you had towards a group of people that were key witnesses or key whatever to the investigation how would you handle that scenario sir if I found a text for a subordinate that was expressing a political opinion one I don't think I'd see it and two I think it's entirely appropriate if your question is the text was about a target of an investigation talking about the target that's an entirely different matter and I'd bring that subordinate in and counsel them but those are those are apples and oranges they are not at all the same well I will conclude by this statement mr. chairman I believe that this is a bad day for the FBI I believe that we have an overwhelming majority of quality FBI agents and intelligence agents all across the United States and all across the world but it's infor it's unfortunate that when reading the Inspector General's report and sitting here listening to your testimony watching the reactions from some of the your colleagues behind you with their eyes and frowning faces and you know it's just very discouraging as a member of Congress that we've tried this hard to get information the American people want to know this Russia investigation has been going on for a long time many believe that it it is a witch hunt it needs to wrap up but from what we've heard today you know there are a lot of problems with your credibility as the lead agent in the entire Russia investigation mr. chairman I yield back does the gentlewoman from Texas before we close and we will we will now be closing there's a gentleman from Texas desire a couple of minutes to make any closing remarks mr. chairman thank you for your indulgence this has been a long day first let me thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation the agents that I've worked with in my years of service on judiciary homeland security the aftermath of 9/11 which I had the lack of distinguishing if you will distinguished position to be in the United States Congress during 9/11 and certainly in the aftermath of the investigation let me thank the FBI mr. struck for their service let me quickly say this and then conclude my remarks I want it to be clear that general Flynn in his offense as the Russian ambassador to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia following a whistleblower then said that he referred this to mr. Flynn that the sanctions would be quote ripped up to allow money to start flowing to one of Flynn's business projects did you have anything to do with any comments by general Flynn this is not for answering asking questions miss Jackson I will leave that on the record mr. chairman thought that it would be good to clarify it because I've asked others but let me finish my remarks in the concluding comments mr. struck again I believe this hearing in it's long period of time showed no bias in the decisions regarding the final report on Hillary Clinton's emails she was vindicated nothing changes the Russian interference in our elections of 2016 unfortunately no questions were asked by the Republicans about the Russian interference and the GIP the GOP in many instances would not let you mr. struck answer the questions finally the hearing did not give the American people I think the important answers that they needed and that is how will we secure our elections in 2018 that unfortunately plays into Putin's hands it also did not respond or did not answer what do you do when White House officials have not gotten their own security clearance and finally let me be very clear when our country is attacked I want to make sure that the FBI and not the KGB shows up we need to do a better job of answering the concerns of children that have been snatched away from their parents the violation of voting rights the need to end gun violence and many other issues but today you stood the test of time at least you've admitted fault and certainly admitted that you would have wanted to do things in a better way as I've gleaned from your testimony but it cannot take away your service in the United States military your service to the FBI and your willingness to offer if you will your deference and your concern about the continuation of the FBI and its service to this nation mr. Chairman I hope that the Judiciary Committee and Oversight Chairman I believe is not present but in any event that we will take up the issues that the American people desire and that will solve problems of which are important to the democracy security and the values of this nation I thank you mr. chairman and I yield back thank the gentlewoman many members on the other side of the aisle have attempted to denigrate this investigation and in particular this hearing today one going so far as to calling it stupid this investigation hearing aren't just about reviewing the 2016 election however however important that is this is a much bigger matter our investigation and this hearing goes to a larger global and existential issue of equality under the law so for my Democratic colleagues to call this review stupid denigrates the importance of our founding principles and the core of a system of justice I'd venture to guess that most Americans don't view equality under the law and fair and unbiased investigations as stupid mr. struck this has been a lengthy hearing so thank you for your time today it has been extraordinarily frustrating though in trying to get answers to many important questions I understand that you have refused to answer many questions on advice of the FBI you have also said that you cannot answer questions on advice of counsel because they could disrupt the ongoing Muller investigation so we are presented with a situation where you have not answered questions from Congress under the cover of the FBI and special counsel Muller neither the FBI nor the special counsel is mentioned in the Constitution Congress is and we have a constitutional right to have answers to the many questions that have been posed to you while you have consistently referred to the FBI as the ultimate arbiter who is preventing you from answering questions today the FBI director reports to the Deputy Attorney General the FBI is a component of the Department of Justice so at the end of the day deputy attorney general Rosenstein who has oversight over the Federal Bureau of Investigation and of the Muller investigation is where the buck stops we now consider the department on the line in addition to the FBI for failing to permit you to answer questions that don't even go to the substance of any investigation but have focused on your involvement in the process of those investigations this is unacceptable Congress has been blocked today from conducting its constitutional oversight duty and more importantly the American people have not received answers on why our chief law enforcement agencies and agents and lawyers operating within them permitted improper bias to permeate through three of the most important investigations in our nation's history the Constitution's construct of congressional oversight over the executive branch has been severely undermined today we will resist attempts to prevent us from getting to the facts this is not over and you as well as future witnesses are on notice that fulsome answers are expected promptly with that this hearing is adjourned

Channel: GOP Oversight

Views: 40,849

Rating: 4.1799998 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: RTmNm9udtYg

Length: 134min 12sec (8052 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 12 2018