FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who exchanged 375 text messages with Department of Justice attorney Lisa Page that led to his removal from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin's efforts to interfere in the U.S. election last summer, photographed outside his home in Fairfax, Virginia on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP (RESTRICTION: NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers or newspapers within a 75 mile radius of any part of New York, New York, including without limitation the New York Daily News, The New York Times, and Newsday.) Photo by: Ron Sachs/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 12: Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill July 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. While involved in the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server in 2016, Strzok exchanged text messages with FBI attorney Lisa Page that were critical of Trump. After learning about the messages, Mueller removed Strzok from his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (CNN) — The House Judiciary and Oversight Committees held a hearing Thursday where for nearly 10 hours they grilled FBI agent Peter Strzok, whose anti-Trump text messages sparked outrage among Republicans and critics of the special counsel investigation. The contentious event brought together dozens of members of Congress who continued sparring over the 2016 election, the FBI and alleged Russian meddling in US politics as Strzok sought to explain his conduct and statements that have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump. While the goal was aimed at investigating allegations of political bias in the Justice Department, much of the information discussed during the hearing had been widely known for weeks. The showdown instead became a literal partisan shouting match and a largely political exercise, as both sides dug in and took shots. Here are some of the key moments: Combative from the start In a sign of how contentious the hearing would be, House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy’s first question that Strzok said he could not answer sparked a lengthy shouting match with Democrats after Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte threatened to hold Strzok in contempt. Democrats repeatedly objected and used parliamentary maneuvers to force a vote related to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. The episode got particularly heated when Strzok asked to confer with FBI counsel about whether he could answer the question. “Only with your own counsel,” Goodlatte said, prompting a loud response. “Mr. Chairman, there’s no basis for that,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top House Judiciary Committee Democrat. “He can consult with the FBI counsel, he’s an FBI employee.” “The gentleman is not recognized,” Goodlatte responded. “And the chairman is not being proper,” Nadler shot back. The procedural vote nixed the Democratic effort on a party-line vote, although Gowdy “passed” when it came his turn to vote. ’I don’t give a damn what you appreciate Agent Strzok’ In another fiery moment early in the hearing, Strzok said the intention of his statements had been misconstrued and that he did not “appreciate” that. Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who is not running for re-election, said in return he did not care about Strzok’s feelings. “I don’t give a damn what you appreciate, Agent Strzok,” Gowdy said. “I don’t appreciate having an FBI agent with an unprecedented level of animus working on two major investigations during 2016.” Strzok explains what was going on behind text message Strzok has been under fire for months over anti-Trump bias, and many of his critics have pointed to a text message he sent saying “we will stop it” in regard to Trump’s candidacy for President. At the hearing, Strzok said he was not referring to the FBI, but instead to the electorate. “In terms of the texts that ‘we will stop it,’ you need to understand that was written late at night, off-the-cuff, and it was in response to a series of events that included then-candidate Trump insulting the immigrant family of a fallen war hero, and my presumption, based on that horrible, disgusting behavior, (was) that the American population would not elect somebody demonstrating that behavior to be the President of the United States,” Strzok said. Strzok defends the FBI Continuing in that vein, Strzok pushed back on the idea that the FBI is an overtly political organization. “The suggestion that I, in some dark chamber somewhere in the FBI would somehow cast aside all of these procedures, all of these safeguards, and somehow be able to do this, is astounding to me,” Strzok said. “It simply couldn’t happen. And the proposition that that is going on, that it might occur anywhere in the FBI, deeply corrodes what the FBI is in American society, the effectiveness of their mission, and it is deeply destructive.” His comments were part of a broader defense that, at the end of which, several Democratic members of the committees audibly cheered. Republican spotlights relationship with Page Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert went after Strzok and referred to his affair with Page, in one of the most heated moments of the entire hearing. “I’ve talked to FBI agents around the country,” Gohmert said. “You’ve embarrassed them. You’ve embarrassed yourself. And I can’t help but wonder when I see you looking there with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eye and lie to her about Lisa Page?” The line prompted jeers from others on the committee, and as Strzok responded, the two talked loudly over one another. “You need your medication,” said New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman. Stzok was eventually allowed to respond. “I have always told the truth,” he said. “The fact that you would accuse me otherwise, the fact that you would question whether or not that was the sort of look I would engage with in a family member who I have acknowledged hurting, goes more to a discussion about your character and what you stand for and what is going inside you.” Gohmert’s reference to the affair was perhaps the most direct and incendiary, though other lawmakers appeared to reference it more indirectly. Toward the end of the hearing, Georgia GOP Rep. Karen Handel called it “truly ironic” that Strzok had been reassigned to the FBI’s human resources department. “Did I hear you say earlier that you’re in a senior position in the HR division for the FBI? … That’s very ironic.” Democrats slam ‘circus’ Many Democrats at the hearing took issue with the events more broadly and the rhetoric of their Republican colleagues. California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren called it a “circus” and warned against sewing division. “I would urge that we, we make sure that the actions we take do not create further divisions in our country,” she said. Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez contended that the hearing would find a receptive audience in both Fox News and the Kremlin, and said, “A lot of this today is simply what? Auditioning for Fox News.” “If there are two people that are thrilled and excited today, there are two people,” Gutierrez said. “The folks over at Fox News and at the Kremlin.” ’If I could give you a purple heart, I would’ Some Democrats went further than others in coming to Strzok’s defense. Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen offered Strzok his condolences for the extended criticism he has received for months.<doc-sep>For months, FBI agent Peter Strzok has had a starring role in President Donald Trump’s preferred narrative that the Russia investigation is a deep-state witch hunt that’s biased against him. But on Thursday, Strzok testified for hours at a congressional hearing and gave his side of the story for the first time — and what a hearing it was. (Actually, as of press time it’s still going on, over nine hours after it started.) In a raucous, partisan, circus-like atmosphere, Strzok repeatedly claimed that his personal political views — expressed in thousands of texts sent to his coworker and lover, Lisa Page — never affected any of his decisions in either the Hillary Clinton email investigation or the Trump-Russia probe (until special counsel Robert Mueller removed him from it last summer). Strzok insisted that if he really wanted to stop Trump from winning, he could have leaked information about the Russia probe to the press — but that he didn’t. He also emphasized that there were “multiple layers” of officials above and below him at every key moment, who would not have tolerated bias. And he maintained that no one has pointed out any one action that he took as part of his job that was driven by bias. He also defended the investigation as serious and important. “The information we had which was alleging a Russian offer of assistance to a member of the Trump campaign was of extraordinary significance,” he said. “It was credible. It was from an extraordinarily sensitive and credible source.” Meanwhile, Republicans contemptuously scorned Strzok’s claims to professionalism, repeatedly quoting from his more inflammatory text messages in an attempt to impugn the investigation. Democrats, meanwhile, became Strzok’s defenders — even though he was sharply criticized in an inspector general report last month, and removed from Mueller’s team. “If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would. You deserve one,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) said. The hearing was a remarkable spectacle, devolving several times into dueling partisan choruses of shouts. One Republican brought up Strzok’s extramarital affair, while Democratic staffers held up posters showing Michael Flynn and others who have pleaded guilty in Mueller’s probe. What the hearing didn’t do, though, was reveal much new about that Russia probe. Even though Strzok left Mueller’s team nearly a year ago, he repeatedly refused to answer questions about the specifics of the still-ongoing investigation, because the FBI’s lawyers had urged him not to. Instead, Strzok’s goal was to rehabilitate his own reputation — while Republicans’ goal was to rake him over the coals. Who is Peter Strzok? After an FBI career of over two decades, Strzok became the lead agent on the bureau’s counterespionage team. It was there that he had a major role in, first, the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and second, the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. After special counsel Robert Mueller’s took over the Russia probe in May 2017, Strzok served on his team too. Strzok was a highly regarded agent with a very good reputation — but he had a secret. Through much of this time, he’d been having an affair with a co-worker: Lisa Page, who worked for then-deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, and was briefly assigned to Mueller’s probe too. (Both Strzok and Page are married to other people.) On their work devices, Strzok and Page exchanged thousands of texts in which they frequently discussed investigations they were both involved in — and also shared their views on politics in general. And it turns out that neither were fans of Trump — in fact, they were appalled by him, and repeatedly said so. (You can read the publicly released texts here.) FBI officials are of course allowed to have their own opinions about politics, though writing them out on work devices and intermingling them with discussions of the sensitive investigations involving those political figures doesn’t really look great. Yet some of Strzok’s texts arguably have more troubling implications. Particularly, in one late-night exchange from early August 2016, Page expresses fear that Trump will win the presidency, and Strzok answers “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.” If by “we” Strzok meant the FBI — which had opened its investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties just over a week earlier — that poses the question of whether Strzok hoped to impact the election through his work. All this became a problem for Strzok last summer, when Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz, who was reviewing FBI leaks and the bureau’s handling of the Clinton email probe, discovered the texts. Horowitz informed Mueller of what they said — and Mueller was sufficiently disturbed that he removed Strzok from his team immediately. (Page had already left Mueller’s team at that point.) So in a punishment worthy of The Wire, the agent who’d worked on some of the most important investigations in the country was transferred to the human resources division of the FBI. There he worked for a quiet few months — until word of the texting FBI lovers and his removal from Mueller’s team leaked out in December 2017, and the story became a media sensation. What do Strzok’s texts say about Trump, Clinton, and politics? Like much of the rest of America, Strzok and Page closely followed the 2016 presidential campaign. Late at night, they exchanged texts about debates, conventions, and whatever the latest political events happened to be. And they weren’t pure partisans. They expressed their contempt for many political figures from both parties, including Bernie Sanders, Eric Holder, Chelsea Clinton, and various members of Congress. More rarely, they praised some politicians, like Joe Biden and John Kasich. At one point Strzok wrote that he was “a conservative Dem.” About Obama, he wrote, “I like him. Just not a fan of the weakness globally.” But it’s inarguable that Strzok and Page were particularly appalled by Trump and his candidacy. Strzok wrote that Trump was a “douche,” a “loathsome human,” and that the prospect of Trump winning was “F*CKING TERRIFYING.” Opinions like these, it should be noted, were shared by much of even the Republican establishment at the time. However, in August 2016, shortly after the FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties, there are a few exchanges that Republicans say raise red flags about whether Strzok and Page’s political views affected their work — two in particular. On August 9, Page wrote, “He’s not ever going to become president, right?” Strzok answered: “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.” On August 15, Strzok wrote, “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office - that there’s no way he gets elected - but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40…” However, Strzok has suggested that both exchanges are being misinterpreted. Strzok suggested Thursday that “we’ll stop” meant that the American electorate (not the FBI) would stop Trump from winning, by voting against him. As for the “insurance policy” text, Strzok said that there was an internal FBI debate over whether to move forward with the Trump-Russia probe even if that could jeopardize “an extraordinarily sensitive source,” or whether to slow-walk the investigation under the assumption that Trump was sure to lose, so it wouldn’t mean much. He says the “insurance policy” simply meant proceeding with the investigation just in case Trump won — not trying to affirmatively stop Trump from winning. Do Strzok’s texts mean the FBI was biased against Trump? Even before the story of the texting FBI lovers leaked out, Trump and his allies (who include key GOP congressional committee chairs) were engaged in a larger effort to discredit the Russia investigation— by alleging supposed wrongdoing by the Justice Department, FBI, or Obama administration officials. This effort included, among other things, Trump’s phony allegation that President Obama “tapped” his phones (which Rep. Devin Nunes tried to turn into the “unmasking” pseudo-scandal), as well as months of inquiries about how the FBI used the explosive Steele dossier that alleged Trump-Russia ties.<doc-sep>FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who exchanged 375 text messages with Department of Justice attorney Lisa Page that led to his removal from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin's efforts to interfere in the U.S. election last summer, photographed outside his home in Fairfax, Virginia on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP (RESTRICTION: NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers or newspapers within a 75 mile radius of any part of New York, New York, including without limitation the New York Daily News, The New York Times, and Newsday.) Photo by: Ron Sachs/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 12: Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill July 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. While involved in the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server in 2016, Strzok exchanged text messages with FBI attorney Lisa Page that were critical of Trump. After learning about the messages, Mueller removed Strzok from his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Editor’s Note: Josh Campbell is a CNN analyst, providing insight on national security, crime, and justice issues. He previously served as a supervisory special agent with the FBI, conducting global terrorism and kidnapping investigations. Follow him on Twitter @joshscampbell. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN. (CNN) — Congress has done it again. It has wasted our time and proven it cannot seriously exercise its critical role of holding the executive branch accountable. In an important hearing Thursday, ostensibly scheduled to allow embattled FBI agent Peter Strzok to face the American people and answer important questions about his conduct during the 2016 election season, House Republicans could not help but stray from oversight into embarrassing overreach. The committee hearing should have been an opportunity to ask Strzok about his now-famous text messages with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a fellow employee with whom he had engaged in an extramarital affair and exchanged communications disparaging then-candidate Trump. Congress should have taken this chance to grill him about both the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations to evaluate whether his personal political beliefs impacted his work. Instead, the spectacle devolved into a chaotic scene more reminiscent of a bar fight than a congressional hearing, with members of Congress yelling over each other and displaying their complete lack of respect for decorum. In one exchange impugning Strzok’s integrity, Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, offered the following disgusting remark, “When I see you looking there with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eye and lie to her about Lisa Page?” There is no question, our present polarized political climate has tempers flaring on both sides of the political aisle, but this raucous hearing did not prove to be the venue for adult discussion. Instead, we had three separate parties – Republicans, Democrats, and Strzok – talking past each other with differing motivations. They were not only ships passing in the night, they weren’t even operating in the same dimension. Republicans, intent on proving the existence of a politically motivated cabal of deep-staters within the FBI, expressed dismay at not receiving answers to questions they expected to be addressed. Democrats were clearly frustrated at the GOP showboating and badgering of the witness. Peter Strzok, for his part, sought to explain himself and the batches of personal communications publicly released without context by Congress. Despite its efforts to the contrary, Congress succeeded in humanizing someone who has long been a political punching bag of House Republicans and the President of the United States. Strzok’s demeanor – speaking passionately only when required to defend himself – stood in stark contrast to the grandstanding of committee members. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, reached into his quiver of snarky remarks, slinging arrows that incredibly bounced off Strzok’s shield of calm self-control. Embattled Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, determined the best way to proceed was to consistently interrupt the witness and prevent him from providing any fulsome answers. (How rich it is that Jordan was separately engaged in his own struggle to fight off allegations of wrongdoing at the very moment he worked to inhibit the ability of a witness to defend himself.) In the end, the only thing we really learned is that Strzok – a government official who exercised terrible judgment in his mode and manner of communicating – is a fallible human being. He also came across as a long-term public servant with a passion for protecting the United States against foreign threats. When compared to the juvenile behavior of those in charge of his inquisition, he came across as almost saintly. Get our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook This hearing was not only a colossal waste of time, but it served to leave the American people with many more questions than when it began. The only thing we can conclude with any certainty is that Congress is broken beyond repair, and we still do not fully know to what extent politics may have played a role in the actions of law enforcement. While many Republican legislators sought to convince the American people that the FBI was operating corruptly, they didn’t make much headway. In fact, Congress did help the public conclude the agency is much more functional and admirable than the elected leaders responsible for overseeing it.<doc-sep>
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who exchanged 375 text messages with Department of Justice attorney Lisa Page that led to his removal from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin's efforts to interfere in the U.S. election last summer, photographed outside his home in Fairfax, Virginia on Wednesday, January 3, 2018. Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP (RESTRICTION: NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers or newspapers within a 75 mile radius of any part of New York, New York, including without limitation the New York Daily News, The New York Times, and Newsday.) Photo by: Ron Sachs/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies before the House Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform during a hearing on "Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election," on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 12, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 12: Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill July 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. While involved in the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server in 2016, Strzok exchanged text messages with FBI attorney Lisa Page that were critical of Trump. After learning about the messages, Mueller removed Strzok from his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (CNN) — Even by the clown show standards of the House of Representatives, this was not democracy’s finest hour. A hearing starring Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who presided over the start of the Russia probe, degenerated Thursday into a theatrical display of sanctimony, mock outrage, all-out partisan bickering and character assassination as grandstanding members on both sides of the aisle played to the TV cameras. Republicans, posing as grave prosecutors of a state crime, sought to paint Strzok’s anti-Trump political commentary in texts to a former lover as a symptom of institutionalized bias that should invalidate special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election – from which Strzok has been removed. Democrats battled to defend him from attack after attack, and to turn the focus back onto alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And Strzok, who often wore a bemused smirk as lawmakers squabbled and talked over one another, barged into the hearing loaded for bear. He shouted back at his inquisitors as they bellowed at him and drove them to distraction by refusing to answer questions. He also delivered a passionate and angry defense of the FBI from a GOP attack that he said “deeply corrodes” the bureau. “I understand we are living in a political era in which insults and insinuation often drown out honesty and integrity,” Strzok told members of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. “I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role, but I truly believe that today’s hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt,” he said. Though Strzok expressed “significant regret” for the way his texts to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page had hurt his family and the FBI, no one would describe Strzok as an unapologetic witness. For hours in the hot seat, he gave as good as he got, demanding time to answer Republican attacks, drawing frequent reprimands from the chair with the words “the witness will suspend.” Strzok drove Republicans on the committee into ostentatious displays of frustration with variations of his line that his counsel had advised him not to answer certain questions. “I would like to answer your question … but at the direction of the FBI I cannot discuss the content,” Strzok told GOP Rep. Jim Jordan in one example. 01:00 - Source: CNN Lawmaker yells at Gowdy: This is not Benghazi! Political polarization If the hearing uncovered any significant revelations about the conduct of the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump investigations it was not immediately obvious amid the hoopla. But as an example of the mind-blowing rabbit holes and political polarization spawned by Russia’s election meddling operation it was priceless.