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Republican House leaders threatened to imprison former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, unless she agrees to testify Friday morning on her role in investigations from the office on Hillary Clinton's emails and the alleged links of President Trump. President Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) And Trey Gowdy (RS.C.), chairman of the government's supervisory and oversight committee, sent Wednesday a letter to Page's lawyer, telling him that unless if she agreed to testify publicly Thursday at 10am. I am in camera on Friday at 10 am, the GOP would formally seek to insult him.
"The Judicial Committee intends to open a contempt proceeding on Friday, July 13, 2018, at 10:30," Goodlatte and Gowdy wrote in their letter to Amy Jeffress, who represents Page . Jeffress argued that Page needs more time to review relevant documents before testifying before committees, a claim that Republican members of these committees reject.
Page should testify Thursday, she would do it alongside Peter Strzok, the former FBI counterintelligence top official with whom she traded a series of anti-Trump texts that brought her to the US. GOP Watch
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that he would support Goodlatte's decision. 19659006] "Subpoenas for testimony are not optional," Ryan said, promising that "we will do what we must do to protect this branch of government."
Page, who worked for Andrew McCabe when he was deputy director of the FBI and briefly served on the team of Special Adviser Robert S. Mueller III, "was part of the mess that we discovered at DOJ, "said Ryan. "She has an obligation to come testify.If she wants to come to plead the Fifth, it's her choice.But a subpoena to testify before the Congress is not optional; it's mandatory "
Page first drew the attention of lawmakers to the anti-Trump text messages that she exchanged with Strzok, with whom she had an affair.The texts were discovered during of the investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice on the Clinton email inquiry. Mr. Strzok, who has already spoken in camera before the Judiciary, government oversight and reform, should testify publicly in court on Thursday.
[Lawyer for FBI agent who sent anti-Trump texts assails House GOP ‘trap’]
The Judiciary Committee of the House issued a subpoena, but Jeffress, his lawyer, responded by stating that Page needed to "clarify the scope of the Committee's interest in the matter and have access to the relevant documents "before going on an interview with the juries. Ms. Jeffress added that the Department of Justice had received the word "after 11 pm" only Tuesday that she would have access to the documents she needed for Wednesday's interview.
Jeffress accused groups of using unnecessary "intimidation tactics" to interview immediately, especially when "she volunteered to appear before committees later this month."
" There is nothing to suggest that Lisa has anything to hide or is unwilling to testify. The record shows the opposite, "Jeffress said in the statement, noting that Page had already cooperated with the Inspector General probe and another congressional panel." We expect that they will accept a another date so that Lisa can appear before the Committees in the near future. "
But Republicans are contesting this deadline Several GOP lawmakers, including Goodlatte and Gowdy, have pointed out that Page had known for more than six months that committees wanted The interviewer also maintained that she had all the information she needed for an unclassified interview much earlier in the day than her lawyer had claimed
Mark Meadows (RN.C.), who sits on the government's oversight and reform committee, also accused this page of making "very difficult even to serve a summons."
"The idea that & # 39; el it was willing to come voluntarily and it's a matter of document review that she had the opportunity to look at for seven months – many of whom have written, by the way – that does not hold water Meadows said, complaining that a Marshal Democratic Democrat Jerrold Nadler (NY), the Democratic's leading Democratic Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday suggested that "the real reason" for which Republicans suspected measures of Page outrage was to "put up a dramatic thing". before Strzok's public interview on Thursday. Should they really attempt to insult Page, said Nadler, a judge would likely "throw", because she had not had enough time to review the documents.
"It's open and closed," he added. John Wagner contributed to this report.
Read more at PowerPost
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