Lisa Page, the former anti-Trump FBI lawyer who was briefly part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, will not attend a Congressional hearing for which she had been subpoenaed, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte confirmed late Tuesday.
Ms. Page was scheduled to testify on Wednesday before the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees.
In a statement, Mr. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said Ms. Page “has no excuse” for her failure to appear, saying she has known for months the two committees were interested in her testimony.
“It appears that Lisa Page has something to hide,” he said. “She plans to blatantly defy a congressional subpoena by refusing to appear for her deposition.”
“We will use all tools at our disposal to obtain her testimony,” Mr. Goodlatte’s statement continued.
Ms. Page’s attorney, Amy Jeffress, released a statement saying her client had only been subpoenaed four days before the hearing and needed more time to prepare.
SEE ALSO: Trump: Lisa Page and Peter Strzok ‘are getting cold feet’
“The Committees would be asking Lisa about materials that she has not yet been shown. In fact, Lisa andf I went to the FBI today today to review the materials that were previously produced to Congress related to her proposed interview, but after waiting more than three hours, we were not provided with any documents,” Ms. Jeffress said.
Ms. Jeffress said her client asked the Committee to schedule another date that would allow her more time to prepare.
But, the statement continued, “the Committees have not honored this request. As a result, Lisa is not going to appear for an interview at this time.”
Ms. Page was deputy counsel to then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and worked for the Mueller team, but was removed after text messages between her and her extramarital lover Peter Strzok showed the pair ridiculing Mr. Trump and talking about an “insurance policy” in the event Mr. trump won the election.
In another text, Ms. Page said she was worried Mr. Trump would win the election to which Mr. Strzok responded, “No. No. We’ll stop it.”
Those messages have fueled conservative complaints of political bias in Mr. Mueller’s probe of purported Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Strzok, who was also a member of Mr. Mueller’s team, is scheduled to testify before the two committees on Thursday. Last month, Mr. Strzok spent 11 hours testifying in a closed session.
On Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump appeared to indicate that Ms. Page and Mr. Strzok would not be testifying before Congress.
“I am on Air Force One flying to NATO and hear reports that the FBI lovers, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are getting cold feet on testifying about the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by 13 Angry Democrats and people that worked for Obama for 8 years. Total disgrace,” the president tweeted.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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