The FBI agent who was booted from particular counsel Robert Mueller's crew due to anti-Donald Trump textual content messages was escorted from the bureau Tuesday as a part of the continued inner investigation.
Peter Strzok was a lead agent in the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation, and he had written a variety of textual content messages crucial of President Trump.
His removing comes after a report from the inspector basic revealed extra texts, together with one the place Strzok promised to "stop" Trump from turning into president.
In testimony earlier than the House Oversight and Judiciary committees Tuesday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz stated that textual content is the premise for an investigation into Strzok's conduct in the Russia probe.
"Do you believe this text shows political bias…..if so do you believe the political bias shown by this text had an effect on the initiation of the Russia investigation?" House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) requested Horowitz.
"I think as you know, Mr. Chairman, that's a matter we've got under review and are looking at right now," Horowitz countered.
"More to be determined on that?" Goodlatte pressed.
"More to be determined on that," he replied.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) hammered Horowitz over the FBI's dealing with of the Russia and Clinton probes.
"And then we get to August 8, 2016 – less than two weeks after the Russia investigation even began, the lead FBI agent says he will stop Trump from becoming president," the South Carolina lawmaker stated.
"This is two weeks into an investigation and he's already prejudged the outcome and we're somehow supposed to believe that that bias was not outcome determinative," Gowdy charged.
Horowitz agreed that Strzok's actions had been worthy of investigation.
"I can't imagine FBI agents suggesting even that they might use their powers to investigate, frankly, any candidate for any office," Horowitz stated.
Meanwhile, Democrats proceed to cling to the official discovering that the brokers' bias didn't affect the result of the investigations.
"While the report is highly critical of Director (James) Comey, it did not find that it was biased against President Trump or in favor of Secretary Clinton, as some have alleged," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated.
As congressional hearings on the inspector basic report proceed, Strzok's lawyer, Aitan Goelman, says his client is open to testifying.
"He thinks that his position, character, and actions have all been misrepresented and caricatured, and he wants an opportunity to remedy that," he stated.