Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., made FBI agent Peter Strzok, who exchanged anti-Trump text messages with fellow FBI employee Lisa Page during the 2016 campaign, read his own texts aloud Thursday afternoon during a public congressional hearing.
Strzok was referred to a sheet of paper placed in front of him with the messages. “You want me to read this?” Strzok asked, appearing incredulous.
“Yes, please,” Issa responded.
Issa said a date, after which Strzok read the words of his texts, including messages, such as “Omg, he’s an idiot” and “Hi, how was Trump other than a douche?”
Issa also made Strzok read aloud one particular message, in which Strzok had asked Page, “I can’t pull away. What the fuck happened to our country, Lis?” in reference to Trump’s potential election to the presidency.
Strzok asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., for deference — to which Issa told him he could “use one letter.”
Following Strzok’s reading, Issa took the opportunity to take a questioning stance on Strzok’s previous denial of bias against Trump.
“Why in the world do you believe that this committee should not ask for the record of similar texts from your private account to find out what else you might have said about insurance policies or about the president of the United States or investigation?” Issa asked. “That is a rhetorical question. You need not answer.”
Watch the exchange below:
WATCH: Strzok is made to read his own text messages in front of Congress pic.twitter.com/livrjQ4yoH
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 12, 2018
