(Bloomberg) -- Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page will be questioned in private by congressional investigators Wednesday, a day before bureau agent Peter Strzok is to testify publicly about the beginnings of the government's Russia collusion investigation, according to two congressional officials.
Anti-Trump messages between Page and Strzok during the 2016 presidential campaign, when they were involved romantically, have fueled accusations from President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers that the Russia probe was tainted early on by bias among some members of the FBI assigned to it.
On Monday morning, Trump tweeted one of his frequent jibes on the mater, denouncing the probe that's now run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a Republican, as the “Rigged Witch Hunt, originally headed by FBI lover boy Peter S (for one year) & now, 13 Angry Democrats.”
Page's planned deposition before members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees was confirmed Monday by a Republican lawmaker and a Democratic committee official, who are both involved in the meeting.
Page, who served as an FBI lawyer and close adviser to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, resigned from the bureau in May. Mueller removed Strzok from his team pursuing Russian meddling, and whether anyone close to Trump colluded in it, after he learned of the anti-Trump texts.
Page's questioning would come two weeks after Strzok himself was quizzed behind closed doors by Republicans and Democrats on the same two committees. His lawyer has since complained that Republicans have selectively leaked and distorted the agent's answers during that interview.
A transcript has not been released. But Strzok was since been subpoenaed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte to testify publicly, and that hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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