Find their children, how to keep a roof over their head, clothes on their back, food on the table, care for an ailing parent. And were in here wasting time. With that, ill just yield the balance of my time. If theres anything that you think you need to add or that you were cut off and not had the time to add to this discussion, ill give the balance of my time to mr. Strzok to do that. Sir, i appreciate that offer. Im struck listening to your statements and i know the history of the fbi. I certainly want the fbi to be something that you immediately leap to the defense of and i think thats something were working very hard to become. I appreciate the offer and thank you. When it comes to the fbi, i asked years ago to have a hearing on the fact that we dont know or track how many
crimes are committed by fbi informants. We havent had that hearing. But we spent time on Fast And Furious because we were putting guns, introducing guns into the hands of criminals. The time has expired. Then we know that where theres smoke, theres fire. And we ought to allow the process to play out. With that, i vesurrender the remainder of my time. The time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from florida mr. Ross is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, gentlemen. Mr. Strzok, i thank you for being here. Youre the reason were here and actions by you are the reason we are here. I know that my colleague from pennsylvania, representative marino had shown you this handbook on ethics for on and off duty conduct issued by the Department Of Justice. Principle 9 says employees shall protect and conserve federal
property and not use it for other than authorized activities. As my Colleague Congressman nor t noron the pointed out, anything on your phone belongs to the public. Would you agree . Its federal property . Yes. According to principle 9 should not be used for anything other than authorized activities. That being said, did you use it for anything other than fbi activities . The fbi allows the use of phones for personal diminimus use. You testified today that what you texted was considered political free speech. Your opinions were political free speech. And do you feel that your use of
a federally authorized, federally owned cell phone protects your right of exercising your political free speech . Look yes or no . I think it was bad jumtdgmen. Lets say you took a federal car. I believe it is protected speech. The same way the protected speech would be then if you used your federal vehicle and put a Hillary Clinton sticker on it. If you read the Ethics Guidelines may i answer your question . Please. That the use of or display of any Bumper Sticker believe me after this started i have gone through the Ethics Guidelines. Placing a political Bumper Sticker on a bureau government car, any government car is expressly prohibited. To the contrary, expression, publicly or privately of personal political belief is encouraged. I would encourage you, sir to read the allow the witness to answer the question, mr. Chairman. The witness did answer the question. The gentleman from florida controls the time. The fbi ethics Integrity Program policy, fbi Code Of Conduct states that employees shall conduct their personal activities in a manner that does not impede their performance or tarnish the reputation of the fbi. Do you agree with that . Do i. You have blamed the media, the washington community, the president , everybody. You say its just not you. So my question is do you believe in any way that your personal texts done on federal property have in any way tarnished the reputation of the fbi. Sir, i take responsibility for sending those texts. Those texts have caused as ive said now an immense amount of damage. Has it tarnished the
reputation of the fbi . Yes, sir. It has, hasnt it . Yes. To take it even further on page four of the ethics handbook it states while youre looking for that reference, i would tell you the time is controlled by the gentleman from florida. The State Department has defined disgraceful conduct as conduct which if it were to become widely known would embarrass the perpetrator and the United States. My concern is weve seen little or no remorse here other than saying i wish id never sent those texts out. In fact, as an elected member of congress i have an obligation to make sure that we maintain the quality of trust in our government and after today, i understand why the federal government has such a low level of trust for the American People. My question to you is, having now been here, how do we reinstate that trust to the American People . Sir, a couple of answers to
several things. First, i dont think the American People have lost faith and confidence in the fbi at all. What the fbi does youre wrong, sir. I know. I have spoken to agents in 56 field offices. I know the work they do day in and day out. Whatever its convenient to say here or on some news clip is absolutely not what exists. Second, sir, i would tell you and i dont know where youre saying im not sorry. I have said and i will tell you again sir if i may respond to your question, i am deeply regretful for those texts. I wrote them. I know it. I know what has been done with them. At the same time, i will tell you, sir, the fbi there is an expectation that those texts are private. The bureau allows me or any fbi employee to text my priest, to text my doctor. Knowing that theyre the time of the gentleman has expired. There is an expectation those are not going to be made public. I had no idea this was going to
happen. And darn if i knew, i never would have done it for sure. The time as expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair. Let me start by saying this is a stupid and ridiculous hearing for at least two reasons. The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over immigration. Its july 12th, 2018. As we sit here today there are nearly 3,000 babies and kids ripped away from their parnlent of the Trump Administration and were not doing a hearing on that. Were doing a hearing into the investigation of Hillary Clintons emails in 2016. Thats just dumb. Second, before this hearing today my republican colleagues could not point to a single act you took in an official capacity that showed bias in any of these official investigations. Now, more than eight hours later, they still cant point to a single official act you took
that showed bias in these investigations. Theres a famous book i read called all i really need to know i learned in kindergarten. Based on todays circus, i hope more members on this Committee Read that book. Theres one thing all of us are taught in kindergarten, which is that actions speak louder than words. Your words show that you did not like trump. You used the fword referring to trump. You wanted donald trump to lose. The one thing you could have done to cause him to lose is disclose the Russia Investigation in july of 2016. Did you do that . I did not. Did you disclose an investigation in august . No. September . No. October . No. November . No. What you did is what we expect every fbi agent to do which is to check their personal beliefs at the door and do your job and thats what you did. You also showed by your words that you wanted Hillary Clinton to win, but yet the i. G. Investigation found that you advocated for more aggressive investigative measures into the Clinton Investigation, including the use of grand jury subpoenas and search warrants. Is that true . Yes. You did that because you checked your political beliefs at the door. When you did your duty, you applied the law to the facts. Th im a former prosecutor. There were defendants i despised. There were defendants i was okay with. But it didnt matter. All that mattered was could we prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt. If we could, we went forward. If we couldnt, we did not go forward. Thats what we expect everybody to do. Now, there has been some allegations by one of my colleagues today about political donations and that that might show bias. Lets talk about fbi director christopher wray, a republican,
nominated by a republican president , confirmed by a republican controlled senate. Im going to ask you to accept for purposes of this question the following fact, that he gave over 39,000 in political donations exclusively to republican candidates. I still trust fbi director wray to do his job, because i expect him to check his personal beliefs at the door and do his job when hes on duty. Do you still trust fbi director wray . Implicitly. Jeff sessions made contributions to the republican party. I still trust if theres a democrat or a republican or an independent that Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions could look at the facts and the law and apply it in a fair and unbiassed manner. Do you still trust him to do that even though he made political contributions to the Alabama Republican Party . I dont know him but hes
taken an oath as the Attorney General and i trust him to discharge that. Thank you. Let me conclude by saying this. Were going to know at some point what the Robert Mueller investigation found. We already know about the Hillary Clinton emails, because theres been an exhaustive investigation into that, plus this i. G. Report. And what were seeing now is an attack on Law Enforcement. When i was prosecuting cases, i know when defendants dont have the facts and evidence on their side, they resort to attacking Law Enforcement. Thats what we see happening now. I just thought id end on a quote from Sarah Huckabee sanders, who said basically when youre attacking the fbi, youre losing. I yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. Walker, for five minutes. Thank you plrkmr. Chairman. Mr. Strzok you have mentioned over 30 times about your personal beliefs when it comes to your texts and that was just your opinion. One of the texts you said, we will stop it, referencing the trump campaign. Thats not a personal belief text. Thats a plan of action. Whos the we in that text . Sir, i disagree. The we, as i have state and the reason im stating it so many times is ive been asked at least twice as many times. I dont recall that text. When i look at the context of it in the middle of the night, i can tell you i am certain it is not a suggestion that me or the fbi take any action. I can also assure you if i could reclaim my time. Under oath, there was no plan of action. Yes. Well, my eighth grade english teacher used to teach me that stop was an action verb. I believe it certainly sound it. Let me get away from the content of the text, the as despicable as they were. Lets talk about the volume of
texts if we could, please. 50,000 texts over this time frame. Is that the number that you understand . That is a number ive heard. Several hundred pages, 400 pages, about 50,000 texts which is amazing. Im hoping you and the agency at least had the unlimited data plan because of the great amount of volume. You even testified today under oath theres many more on your personal phone. Sometimes 100 texts a day while youre supposed to be doing your job. On friday june 10th, 2016, there were 73 exchanged texts. This did you leave your desk to send these 73 plus texts on a single day . I do not recall where i was when i sent those texts. If you look at those texts, the huge majority of them are in
fact related to work and administrative things. There may be a lot, but theres a whole lot more. I dont get to text with my friends and family sometimes until i finish my work in the day. You had enough time 50,000 texts. Sir, of which the bulk james comey has talked about how the mid year Investigative Team was the ateam, spending every waking moment to complete the investigation. How does this statement square with the amount of time you seem to spend texting Lisa Paige On working days . The majority of those texts were work related matters. Of the many, many thing ive been accused of, some of which are true and horrible, one of them is not being lazy. I can assure you those texts represent work and work that was going on frequently from 5 00 in the morning until 11 00 at
night. Youre talking 600 to 700 per week, so dont give me these were all work related texts. This is an Integrity Issue. Thats part of the problem here. We talked about the text. Youre right, they werent all on official time, like making fun of the trump people at the walmart. Youre right, some of those were in your spare time. But i believe there is a credibility issue and thats probably one of the reasons that mr. Mueller decided to take you off this particular case. I believe you cannot sit there and tell us as you testified earlier today you didnt know for sure why he did, but i believe its pretty obvious to the American People that you have so discredited the fbi that you were removed from this case. I yield the balance of my time. May i respond . The time is controlled by the gentleman from ohio. Allow the gentleman to answer the question. At the conclusion of his
time, the gentleman will be allowed to briefly answer anything that was left unanswered by mr. Walker. Mr. Jordan now controlled the time. Agent strzok, i want to go back to right before the votes. You said when i was asked you about documents received by the fbi from mr. Orr, you said you did not personally receive documents but the fbi did. That is correct. You said the fbi got documents from a different source in september. It was not mr. Orr. Mr. Orr did not hand you the dossier . Mr. Orr didnt hand me anything. He provided information to the fbi that included material that is what everybody is calling the dossier. Say that sentence again. Mr. Orr provided what . Some elements of reporting that my understanding is originated from mr. Steele. So bruce orr did give the fbi information relative to the dossier . Yes. And another source also in Mid September gave you personally information no. You, the fbi, information relative to the dossier . I never personally received dossier information. The fbi in Mid September, the first time im aware of the fbi having that information, the first time i saw it was in Mid September. My understanding was that came into the fbi. Thats when i became aware of it and when i first read it. Bruce orr gave the fbi documents relating to or part of the dossier, is that accurate . Mr. Orr gave the fbi documents which i believe included material from mr. Steele. The gentleman may briefly answer the question that the gentleman felt he didnt have an opportunity to answer with mr. Walker. Yes, sir. Thank you. When you bring up an Integrity Issue its interesting, you and the gentleman from texas raised this in a way that almost
approaches it is insulting. The gentleman may answer the question. Im saying i am here under oath. I am not lying. I have never lied under oath and i never will. The insinuation not even the insinuation, the direct comment that you somehow say you have an Integrity Issue is insulting. I take offense. It is incorrect. Nothing i have said i never mentioned your personal life. I just simply said the amount of time you were spending on the taxpayers dollar wasting it texting back and forth is a problem. Im saying and the gentleman has already answered that question. So the gentleman from maryland mr. Raskin is recognized. We have 2500 Kids In America separated from their families. No hearings from judiciary or oversight. Thousands of people slain in gun violence from parkland to las vegas to San Bernardino county. No hearings on the universal Background Check favored by 97 of the people. The president has plunged us
into trade wars. Hes insulting and taunting our democratic allies around the world. Hes flattering autocrats and Clep Cleptocrats around the world. But our colleagues dont want to do any hearings on any of the chaos thats been set loose in the land. No. Mr. Strzok, the gop wants to talk about your personal texts, two or three out of more than 50,000 that weve seen. The purpose of course is to derail and discredit the investigation by the Special Counsel that has obtained 19 indictments and five criminal convictions of people like flynn and gates and pop pates and pdo on. They say you were at the heart of a deep state conspiracy to oppose donald trump. To make this claim, theyve got
to ignore the fact that you were an equal opportunity insulter of people. You called Bernie Sanders an idiot. Thats not very nice but theres a First Amendment here in america and you can still insult Government Officials without being thrown into jail. There are no kings here. We have freedom of speech, the right that is cherished by the people and feared only by tyrants. But my colleagues have insisted on making a Conspiracy Theory out of your pillow talk texts. There are a couple facts they cant get around. Number one, the i. G. Found no partisan bias affecting the investigation. Number two, Attorney General sessions is a republican ap