Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on Thursday accused FBI official Peter Strzok of lying to Congress about whether he was biased in his work on investigations of Hillary Clinton and President Trump, and shocked Democrats at a public hearing when he accused Strzok of lying to his wife about the affair he had with an FBI lawyer.
“You’ve embarrassed yourself, and I can’t help but wonder when I see you looking there with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eye and lie to her about Lisa,” Gohmert said during a hearing of the House oversight and judiciary committees.
Democrats exclaimed their disapproval of Gohmert invoking Strzok’s affair with former colleague Lisa Page, who worked as an FBI attorney while exchanging with Strzok pro-Clinton and anti-Trump text messages.
WATCH: Lawmakers erupt after Rep. Louie Gohmert brings up Peter Strzok’s infidelity with Lisa Page https://t.co/EfyfUlMRAp pic.twitter.com/raKaYuR5Ma
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 12, 2018
“Mr. Chairman, this is outrageous!” one Democrat shouted.
“Do you need your medication?” a female Democrat shouted at Gohmert.
Strzok said repeatedly during the hearing that he was communicating private political opinions with Page, and that they do not reflect a bias in his investigatory role. He also fired back at Gohmert for bringing up his relationship with his wife.
“I assure you under oath … I have always told the truth,” Strzok told Gohmert. “The fact that you would accuse me otherwise, the fact that you would question whether or not that was the sort of look I would engage with in a family member who I have acknowledged hurting goes more to a discussion about your character and what you stand for.”
The discovery of Strzok’s messages with Page resulted in his 2017 removal from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
[WATCH: Peter Strzok forced to read his own anti-Trump texts]
Strzok oversaw the opening of the FBI’s original election-related Russia investigation in July 2016, after playing a leading role in the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to communicate classified information, softening the wording of a statement by then-FBI James Comey to describe her conduct.
Strzok was transferred last year to the FBI’s human resources division.
