Judge rules that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page can depose Donald Trump: report

23 February 2023

A federal judge granted former Federal Bureau of Investigation employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page permission to depose ex-President Donald Trump in their lawsuit stemming from Strzok's 2018 firing and Trump's subsequent belittling remarks against them, according to reporting by Politico correspondents Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.

United States District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia "ruled on Thursday that Strzok and Page — whose text messages disparaging then-candidate Trump cast a pall over the FBI’s investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia — would also be allowed to depose FBI Director Christopher Wray for a similar two-hour period on a limited set of topics," Cheney and Gerstein explained. "But there's a twist."

"But there’s a twist," Politico noted. "Their ability to ask Trump and Wray about these circumstances might come down to a decision from President Joe Biden. Jackson’s order gave the Justice Department a month to 'inform the Court whether the current president will invoke … executive privilege' over any aspects of Trump’s testimony."

Another potential snag, Politico stressed, is that Trump could again attempt to assert executive privilege, even though his previous efforts relating to the top-secret documents that he hoarded at his Palm Beach, Florida Mar-a-Lago golf club and his activities during the January 6th, 2021 Capitol insurrection have been dismissed by legal experts.

Trump's attorneys have also tried to block his erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence – a key witness to January 6th – from testifying after Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence earlier this month.

Politico's full report is available at this link.

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