investigating another peter getting sworn in, we ll listen to this. thank you. here we go. peter strzok making his first public comments. peter strzok is a deputy assistant director of the human resources division of the fbi. mr. strzok has worked at the fbi for approximately 22 years and prior to his current assignment he was a deputy assistant director in the kou counterintelligence division. it s his assignment that brings us before the committee today as we continue our investigation. your written statement will be entered in the record entirely an we ask your summarize your testimony in five minutes to help you stay within the time, there s a timing light on the table. when it switches from green to yellow, you have one minute to conclude your testimony. when the light turns red it signals your five minutes have expired. mr. strzok, you may begin. chairman goodlatte and gowdy,
the fbi, based on the special counsel s equities, have directed me not to answer any questions about the ongoing investigation into russian attempts to interfere. the gentleman will spend and the clock will suspend. mr. strzok, you are under subpoena and are required to answer the question. are you objecting to the question? if so, please state your objection. mr. chairman, i object. the gentleman does not have standing to object. point of order. no point of order here. point of order to be heard. gentleman state his point of order. my point of order is that intentionally or otherwise this puts m strzok in an impossible position. he s still an employee gentleman. we have a problem with this policy should take it up with the fbi, no the badger mr. strzok. the gentleman s point of order is not well taken. it s right on point.
a similar reason, only had 36 hours to go over those documents. so that s why you may see a lot of conferring between him and an agency attorney as to what questions he can answer because they haven t had the time or ability to go through that documentation. of course, they say this is part of why it s actually a show hearing. lisa page expected as goodlatte said to be here before the end of the week but won t see her in public quite yet, hallie. thank you. i want to thank greg and barbara for being with us as well. we ll keep an eye on this. you can see on the left side of the screen, peter strzok still waiting to deliver his opening statement and trey gowdy is delivering his. we re a couple of minutes away. we ll bring it to you live when it happens brut first we ll sneak in a quick break and after that, more on steve bannon s war room here in london where we are, why it matters with the former chief strategist for donald trump s campaign and his administration is doing now. your m
no it s not. mr. trustrzok, are you objectino the question? mr. chairman, two things. one i do not believe i m here under subpoena. i believe i m here voluntarily. second, i will not, based on direction of the fbi to me, based on that, i will not answer that question. because it goes to matters which are related to the ongoing investigations being undertaken by the special counsel. mr. strzok, you have not stated a valid legal basis for not responding to a question directed to you by a member of the united states house of representatives, and you are overruled. point of order, mr. chairman. let me continue. your testimony is essential to this hearing and to our oversight and information gathering functions with regard to the actions taken and decisions made by the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation in 2016 and 2017. i am specifically directing you
to answer the question in response to our subpoena, no the with standing your objection. point of order, mr. chairman. mr. strzok, please be advised that you can either comply with the committee s directive to answer the question, or refuse to do so. latter of which will place you at risk of a contempt citation around potential criminal liability. do you understand that? point of order. the question is directed to the witness. i have a point of order before he answers. point of order is not well taken. you don t know what the point of order is. the point the witness will answer the question. mr. chairman, i raise my point of order and i insist on it. what is the point of order? the united states attorneys manual instructs department personnel not to respond to questions about the existence of on ongoing investigation or comment on its nature or progress. in a letter to congressman john lin den in 2,000.