By: Chuck Ross
Embattled FBI agent Peter Strzok may ignore a subpoena demanding his testimony before Congress July 10, his lawyer said Tuesday.
“My client will testify soon, somewhere, sometime. We just got this subpoena today, so I don’t know whether or not we are going to be testifying next Tuesday in front of these two particular House subcommittees,” Aitan Goelman, the attorney for Strzok, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Tuesday.
The House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees subpoenaed Strzok on Tuesday to testify at a joint hearing hosted by the committees on July 10.
Strzok, who was a top FBI investigator on the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as the Russia probe, appeared for a closed-door session before both committees June 27. He was quizzed over his involvement in both investigations as well as anti-Trump text messages he exchanged with his mistress, a former FBI attorney named Lisa Page.
Strzok served on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team until July 2017, when his text messages were found. Republicans have zeroed in on the text messages, saying that Strzok’s overt bias might have influenced his actions on the Clinton and Russia investigations.
Strzok told Page that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president in one Aug. 8, 2016 text.
Prior to the private session in late June, Goelman offered Strzok up for a public hearing, but the attorney retracted the offer over what he fears is “a trap” set by House Republicans.
In a statement issued to CNN on Monday, Goelman accused Republicans of having “sharpened their knives” against Strzok in the closed deposition in preparation for a public hearing.
Goelman told Cuomo on Tuesday he believes the House GOP inquiry “is not a search for truth.”
“It is a chance for Republican members of the House to preen and posture before their most radical, conspiracy-minded constituents,” said Goelman.
“From our experience with the committee thus far, it is obvious that they don’t want the truth. They don’t want to hear what Pete has to say.”
If Strzok skips Tuesday’s hearing, he could potentially be held in contempt of Congress.
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