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FBI Agent Removed From Mueller Team to Testify Publicly

The FBI agent removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigave team because of derogatory text messages about President Donald Trump will speak publicly to a pair of committees next week.

(CN) - The FBI agent removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team because of derogatory text messages about President Donald Trump will speak publicly to a pair of committees next week.

Peter Strzok, a veteran agent who helped lead the FBI's investigations into Hillary Clinton's email use and into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, will appear before a joint session of the House judiciary and oversight committees on Thursday, July 12.

The session, which is described in the committees' calendars as a hearing on “Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election: Testimony by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok,” is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced a joint investigation into decisions made by the Justice Department and FBI in 2016.

To date, the committees have interviewed Peter Strzok and several other key witnesses, many of them behind closed doors, and have reviewed thousands of documents, including text messages between Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

Strzok was interviewed by lawmakers behind closed doors for hours last week. The judiciary panel subpoenaed him to appear publicly to answer questions.

On Friday afternoon, Strzok's attorney, Aitan Goelman, delivered a letter to the committee, asking it to release his client's testimony from the closed-door session in the spirit of "fair play and transparency."

"If the committee continues to refuse to do so, we request that you at least provide me a copy to share with my client," Goelman continued. "You and your staff already have access to the transcript, which is surely useful in your preparation to question him again, this time at a public hearing viewed by potentially millions of people.

"Fair play and decency dictate that the witness should have the same access to the materials that the committee grants itself," the attorney said.

Strozk briefly worked for Mueller's team but was reassigned last summer following the discovery of anti-Trump text messages he had exchanged with an FBI lawyer.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

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