The Bombshell Question Peter Strzok Did Not Answer
Peter Strozk was Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division the second-highest position in that division. He led the FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails and Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign. Due to misconduct in office he has been demoted and reassigned, and now faces termination.
Last week he appeared before a joint hearing held by two House of Representative committees. During day-long testimony about his brazen, manifest bias in favor of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump he was asked about his decision, in July 2016, to open and lead the so-called Trump-Russia Collusion investigation. This is the investigation that Special Council Robert Mueller took over in May 2017, and continues today.
Strzok faced tough questions from Republicans. But he received praise and softball questions from helpful, sympathetic Democrats.
Democrat Elijah Cummings, offered Strozk an opportunity to present himself as a conscientious patriot, driven by righteous indignation, by asking if Russian interference in an election constituted a threat.
Strzok’s answer was not that of a focused, experienced, investigative professional. Instead he mimicked the emotionally charged bombast of liberal media commentators and Democrats on the Committee. He raised his voice, expressing nearly hysterical consternation at Russian meddling in an election, borrowing phrases like “attacked our democracy” from fevered cable news panels.
Then Cummings asked, “how is that threat made worse if the Presidential campaign colluded with or worked with the hostile foreign power?” Here is Strozk’s melodramatic answer, with a key phrase in bold:
If there were people within the campaign who were working or colluding with the government of Russia there is very little that would be of more importance to the FBI than that we get to the bottom of it. The American people expect that. Frankly any presidential candidate who might have that going on in their campaign, I think frankly, would want to know about that and have the FBI get to the bottom of it.
Cummings helpfully omitted what should have been the most important follow-up question of the whole day. If there was evidence that someone in the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russian government…
…why didn’t Peter Strzok contact Donald Trump and tell him?
Unfortunately, none of the Republicans or Democrats asked this question.
If Mr. Strzok really was the high-minded, and “unbiased” guardian of national security he claims to be, he would have immediately informed the candidate if the FBI detected suspicious activity, so any potential offender could be removed from the campaign.
A diligent, patriotic FBI investigator would not have kept the candidate in the dark until after the election, in order to set the new President up for, Strovk’s own words “an investigation leading to impeachment.” These were Strozk’s exact words in a text to FBI colleague and lover Lisa Page expressing his opinion of the mission of Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible “Trump-Russia collusion.”
