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COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

WASHINGTON, D.C.

INTERVIEW OF: LISA PAGE

Friday, July 13, 2018

Washington, D.C.

The above matter' was held in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office

Building, commencing at 1:40 p.m.

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Mr. Somers. Let's go on the record.

Good afternoon. This is a transcribed interview of Lisa Page,
a former assistant general counsel at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy requested this
interview as pant of a joint investigation by the House Committee on
the Judiciary and the House Committee on Oversight and Government
reform r'egar'ding decisions made and not made in 2916 and 2917 by the
Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding
the 2016 Presidential election.

Would the witness please state her name and the last position she
held at the FBI for, the record?

Ms. Page. Lisa Page. I have always been an assistantgeneral
counsel at the FBI, but the last informal role I held was as special
counsel to the Deputy Director of the FBI.

Mr. Somers. Thank you. I want to thank you for appearing here
today. My name is Zachary Somers, and I am the majority general counsel
on the House Judiciary Committee.

I will now ask everyone else who is here in the room to introduce
themselves for the record, starting to my right with Apt Baker.

Mr. Baker. Ar<hur'Bakeruirwestigativecounse1,House0udiciary
Committee majority staff.

Mr. Parmiter. Robert Parmiter, chief counsel for crime and
terrorism, House Judiciary majority staff.

Mr. Breitenbach. Ryan Breitenbach, senior, counsel, House

Judiciary majority.

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MP.

MS.

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Gowdy. Tr'ey Gowdy, South Carolina.

Jackson Lee. Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston, Texas, Judiciary

Committee.

Mr.
MP.
Mr.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Ms.
MS.
Ms.
Ms.
minority.
MP.
majority.

Mr.

Ratcliffe. John Ratcliffe, Texas.
Jordan. Jim Jordan, district, Ohio.
Nataro. John Nataro, associate general counsel, FBI.

Wellons. Paul Nellons, associate general counsel FBI.

Bessee. Cecilia Bessee, acting deputy general counsel FBI.

Jeffress. Amy Jeffress, counsel for Lisa Page.

Kim; Janet Kim, House Oversight Committee minority staff.
Hiller'. Aaron Hiller, House Judiciary Committee.
Hapihapan. Arya Hariharan, House Judiciary Committee.
Aggmg; Marta Adamu, OGR majority.

Wasz-Pipen. Lyla Wasz-Pipen, House Judiciary minority.

Sachsman Grooms. Susanne Sachsman Grooms, HouseOversight

Apelbaum. Perry Apelbaum, House Judiciary Committee

Nadler. Jerry Nadler, vice ranking member' of Judiciary

Committee.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Raskin. Jamie Raskin, Judiciary Committee.
Dalton. Jason Dalton, FBI congressional affairs.

Krishnamoorthi. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois,0versight.

Chairman Goodlatte. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman of House

Judiciary Committee.

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Mr. Biggs. Andrew Biggs, Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Buddharaju. Anudeep Buddharaju, House Oversightmajority.

Ms. Green. Megan Green, House Oversight majority.

Mr. Gohmert. Louie Gohmert.

Mr. Perry. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania, Fifth District.

Mr. Gaetz. Matt Gaetz, Florida, House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Somers. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply
in this setting, but there are some guidelines that we'll follow that
I'll go over'. Our questioning will proceed in rounds. The majority
will ask questions first for an hour, and then the minority will have
the opportunity to ask questions for an equal period of time.

ble usually go back and forth in this manner' until there are no
more questions and the interview is over'. However, given our' late
start time today and the witness' willingness to reappear to resume
this interview on Monday, our plan is to do two pounds tor the majority
andtworoundsfortheminoritytoday,andwe'llpickupagainonMonday.

Mr. Jeffress. Just to be clear, we're willing to stay all
aftersnoonthisaftermoonifwecou1dfinishtodayandwouldpreferthat.

Mr. Somers. Okay. We'll see where we get at the end of the first
two pounds.

Although a subpoena was issued for' Ms. Page's appearance,
Ms. Page, through her, attorney, has agreed that we'll proceed with
today's session as a voluntary transcribed interview. ble anticipate
thatouPquestionswi11Peceivecompleter'esponses. Totheextentthat

Ms. Page declines to answer' our' questions or if counsel instructs hen

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not to answer, we will consider whether' we need to proceed under, our'
subpoena.

Typically, we take a short break at the end of each hour, of
questioning, but if you would like to take a break apart from that,
please let us know. As you can see, there is an official r'eporter'
taking down everything we say to make a written record so we ask that
you give verbal responses to all our questions. Do you understand
that?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Somers. So that the reporter can take down a clear, record,
we will try to do our best to limit the number of Members and staff
directing questions at you during any given hour, to just those Members
and staff whose turn it is. It is important that we don't talk over'
one another or interrupt each other if we can help it.

Both committees encourage witnesses who appear" for, transcribed
interviews to freely consult with counsel if they so choose, and you
ace appearing with counsel today. Could counsel please state hen name
for the record?

Mr. Jeffress. Amy Jeffress.

Mr. Someps. We want you to ask our' questions in the most complete
and truthful manner possible so we will take our time. If you have
any questions or if you do not understand one of our' questions, please
let us know. If you honestly don't know the answer' to a question or
do not remember it, it is best not to guess. Please give us your' best

recollection, and it is okay to tell us if you learned the information

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from someone else.

If there are things you don't know or can't remember, just say
so, and please inform us who, to the best of your knowledge, might be
able to provide a more complete response to the question.

Ms. Page, you should also understand that, although this
interview is not under, oath, you are required by law to answer' questions
from Congress truthfully. Do you understand that?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Somers. This also applies to questions posed by
congressional staff in an interview. Do you understand this?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Somers. Witnesses who knowingly provide false testimony
cou1dbesubjecttoct'imina1prosecutionfoPper'juryorHor'makingfa1se
statements. Do you understand this?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Somers. Is there any reason that you are unable to provide
truthful answers to our' questions today?

Ms. Page. There is not.

Mr. Somers. Finally, I'd like to note that, as chairman of the
Judiciary Committee stated at the outset of our' first transcribed
interview in this investigation, the content of what we discuss here
today is confidential. Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy ask that
you not speak about what we discuss in this interview to anyone not
present here today to preserve the integrity of our investigation.

This confidentiality rule applies to everyone present in the room

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today.

That's the end of my preamble. Do you have any questions betore
we begin?

Mr. Jeffress. I would just like to state on -- with respect to
your' last point, that if we understand that confidentiality has been
violated by any media reports of what takes place today, we will
consider, ourselves to be released from that confidentiality provision
and hope you understand that.

Mr. Somers. Okay. The time is now 1:45, and we'll get started
with our first round of questions.

Mr. Gowdy. Good afternoon, Ms. Page. My name is Trey Gowdy.
I'mfnomSouthCarolina. I'montheJudiciaryandOversightCommittee.
I want to ask you about some texts that have been attributed to you,
but I want to give you an opportunity to follow along as we identify
them. I'm going to try to do it by date, but one thing that I have
learned in the course of this investigation is sometimes the dates don't
sync up. So, if there's ambiguity about the date, then I'll give you
the first phrase of that text, that way your' attorney can identify it.

Ms. Page. Do you have a --

Mr. Gowdy. I want to start with one dated November, I, 2015.
It's a text that you sent to Special Agent Peter Strzok: And I hope
Paul Ryan fails and crashes in a blaze of glory.

Do you recall that text?

Ms. Page. I do not.

Mr. Gowdy. Do you dispute that you sent that text?

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Ms. Page. Not at all.

Mr. Gowdy. what did you mean by "fails"?

Ms. Page. I don't recall the text, sin.

Mr. Gowdy. Could you review it and see if that refreshes your'
recollection?

Ms. Page. If you can give me the text in the context surrounding
it, that would help, yes, please.

Mr. Gowdy. Sure.

Ms. Page. I don't know. I don't know. Sorry. My guess isl
was watching the news about something. And I don't know what was
happeninginNovemberof 2015,butmysuspicionistherewassomepolicy
issue that I disagreed with, and that was my statement. But I really
do not know.

Mr. Gowdy. Would it refresh your' recollection to know that,that
was 2 days after, he became Speaker' of the House?

Ms. Page. Certainly.

Mr. Gowdy. And when you wrote "fails,' what did you mean by
"fails"?

Ms. Page. I couldn't tell you.

Mr. Gowdy. Out of the universe of options of what you could have
meant by "fails"?

~Ms. Cage, I don't know precisely what I was thinking about, sir.
I presume -- I really don't know. I can't take a guess at it. If there

was a particular' policy proposal or a par'ticular' objective that he had

as Speaker, if there was something about a statement or a speechor'

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something that he was saying that I was referring to, but I don't have
the context for, the Pest of It, so I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. How about "crashes in a blaze of glory"? What'd you
mean by that?

Ms. Page. I don't have a better' answer, sir. I'm sorry. I just
don't recall precisely what I was referring to.

Mr. Gowdy. All night. How about we move to February M of 2016?
And, again, my date may be different -- wouldn't be different by more
than a day than yours.

Ms. Page. February 24, 2016? I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. February 24, 2016, is a page that you would have sent
to Special Agent Peter Strzok, and it begins, "One mor'e thing." I'll
wait until your' counsel lets me know if she's got that pulled up.

Ms. Page. 0h, she's not pulling them up. I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. You're not pulling them up?

Mr. Jeffpess. I'm taking notes.

Mr. Go-wig.- You don't have -- do you have a book of the text -- of
your" text?

Ms. Page. I do not, no.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, why don't we stop for, a minute and let that
happen so we're not --

Ms. Page. Thank you. That would be helpful. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. February 24, 2916, a page that begins, "One more
thing."

Ms. Page. Ah, yep. I see it. Yes.

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Mr. Gowdy. Could you read that for us?

Ms. Page. Sure: One more thing. She might be our' next
President. The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bean.
You think she's going to remember or cape that it was more DOJthan
FBI?

Mr. Gowdy. who would be the "she" in the "she might be
President“?

Ms. Page. Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Gowdy. what did you mean by "the last thing you need us going
in there loaded for bean"?

Ms. Page. So, as I discussed at length in the 16 r'epor't, there's
a great deal of context here that needs to put this in context. And,
in fact, there are easily a half dozen emails and other, text messages
all sort of surrounding this timeframe.

Pretty early on or actually right around this time in the
investigation, almost every interview had been conducted the way FBI
interviews are regularly conducted, with twoagents, maybe aprosecutor
or two, but it -- generally two agents and one or two prosecutors.

And as soon as the planning started to begin to interview some
of the more high-profile witness, not just Mrs. Clinton but also Huma
Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, and her sort of cope team,the
Department wanted to change the sort of structure and the numberof
people who were involved.

And the FBI did not agree with that. We thought this is the way

we normally do things. This is the way we -- this is the way -- as

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you well know, sir, asa pr'osecutor'. I was a prosecutor for 6years
aswell --amoreeffectiveinterviewisconductedwithasmallergroup,
and you build a better, rapport, not -- this lovely body
notwithstanding.

And so we felt str'ongly that there should only -- we should
maintain the same procedure that we had maintained, which was two
pr'osecutor's, two agents, and this represents kind of the middle of a
fight that had been happening preceding this date and following this
date about how many personnel should be present for these high-profile
interviews.

Mr. Gowdy. who specifically at the Department advocated for a
different way of interviewing what you refer to as high profile?

Ms. Page. David Laufman. David Laufman.

Mr. Gowdy. Anyone else?

Ms. Page. No, not to my knowledge.

Mr. Gowdy. And if I understood the context of your' answers, at
least someone at the Bureau, maybe you, but someone at the Bureau
questioned why you would treat some witnesses differently from the way
you treated other witnesses?

Ms. Page. No. Actually, the whole team. To the best of my
knowledge, everybody at the FBI felt that we should proceed with the
higher' profile interviews, including for, Mrs. Clinton, in the same way
that we always had.

David Laufman felt stnonglythat he needed to be pr'esent for these

higher, profile interviews. And so that then cascaded: Nell, ifhe's

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going to be there, should we have Pete or someone else sort of higher'
r'anking than the sort of line agents and line prosecutors who were
conducting the investigation.

And then, once we started talking about including David, then the
U.S. Attorney's Office also wanted to participate in the interviews,
although they had participated in virtually none by that point. And
so then the U.S. Attorney's Office was pushing to have the AUSAs, who
were participating in the Clinton investigation, also participate.

And so now, all of a sudden, we were going from our' standard two
and two to this burgeoning number, of people. And this text reflects
my frustration that we should be doing things the way we always do
things, and that we should not kowtow to the Department's desireto
add people who are not necessary and who were not necessar'ilygoing
to add value to these interviews.

Mr. Gowdy. How many interviews were conducted in the way that
you think would have been different from an operational norm?

Ms. Page. I don't know for sure. I'd say a half dozen or less,
but I am just sort of guessing.

Mr. Gowdy. Of the half dozen or less, did you send text or emails
worried about the perception of treating that interview differently,
or was it just the one when you referred to she might be our President?

Ms. Page. No. This was an argument that pertained to all of them
ultimately. So this was not unique to her. Again, this is just sort
of a sort of snippet in time, but we had multiple -- and I think it's

reflected either, in other, texts or in other' emails -- multiple

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conversations and lots of back and forth and a great deal of frustration
in which I was largely advocating the team's interest to keep it at
two and two with the Deputy Director.

And George Toscas from the Justice Department was advocating fon
why he felt David Laufman should be there, and now the U.S. Attorney's
Office is a partner, and so we need the two prosecutors who are actually
doing all the work because they're the ones who have the substantive
knowledge. But if David Laufman comes, how do we now exclude a higher
ranking, you know, senior, AUSA from the eastern district of Virginia
who's involved.

And so it was sort of a back and forth that continued for possibly
a week on this topic. And it pertained -- again, it was -- it came
up first in the context of scheduling Jake Sullivan's interview, is
my recollection, although I'm not positive. But I think he was the
first one. And that's what sort of trigger'ed the lar'ger' discussion.

Mr. Gowdy. All right. Two questions, but I'll let you take them
in order. I wrote down David Laufman's name and then you introduced
a name George Toscas.

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Go_wdy, was it Laufman OP Toscas that was advocating for, the
interviews to be done differently?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. I should bemore clear'. It was Laufman.
My understanding is that it was David Laufman who was the section chief
of the -- then it was called the counter‘espionage section at the Justice

Department. He was the -- he was the one who first said: I feel like

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I need to be there.

George Toscas is his boss, and so David Laufman was a low
enough -- was of a rank -- as you well know, the FBI is quite
hierarchical. And so Dave Laufman was of a rank that he would not have
been calling the Deputy Director to advocate for, his position
personally.

So he went to his boss, George Toscas, whom Andy McCabe has had
a long relationship with because George has done counterterrorism and
Andy did counterterrorism. And so David went to his boss, George
Toscas, to further advocate for, the position that the Department
was -- that David Laufman wanted to take for two -- for, excuseme,
for a greater number, of prosecutors.

Mr. Gowdy. For those of us who might be inclined to side with
your' position that you should treat all interviews the same, what was
the argument that you should treat certain interviews differently?

Ms. Page. Well, the one David posited, and this is -- I did not
heap it personally, so this is secondhand to me. But what I understood
David's argument was, was that he was the section chief over' this
investigation, so he was sort of the -- ostensibly the person running
it, although he did not really have day-to-day involvement in the
investigative activity, and that he would one day be in the room with
Loretta Lynch and she would turn to him and sort of ask his viewon
the sort of credibility of the witnesses and otherwise and that he felt
it was -- he had a responsibility to be present in order to beable

to answer" -- answer whatever, questions were expected of him by

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seniop-leue1 people at the Justice Department.

Mr. Gowdy. And so the text -- I don't know if it's right after'
that. It'salsodatedFebr'uaty 24 --fromyouto, Iguess,then-Deputy
Director McCabe and another, of your' employee -- begins having a larger
number. You see that one?

Ms. Page. I don't because I'm guessing it's probably on another,
set. If you wouldn't mind reading -- I know it Just changes by like
one or two lines, so if you wouldn't mind Just reading it, sin.

Mr. Gowdy. Having a larger number' in the room is not
operationally necessary and that this is as much about reputational
protection as anything.

Ms. Page. Got it. Yes.

Mr. Gowdy. Can you see how someone might read that text to be
that the interview itself was kind of perfunctory and the interview
itself was about reputational protection?

Ms. Page. I don't see it that way, sir, no.

Mr. Gowdy. How do you see it?

Ms. Page. Well, in part because I make the reference to sort of
operational necessity, that doesn't go at all to the perfunctory
nature. And this wasn't -- this argument, although here we ape just
talking about Hillary Clinton, this is just a snapshot of this one
particular' text. The broader argument was with respect to all of the
sort of higher' profile witnesses, and so what the -- what we're arguing
is let's be reasonable here. I don't -- there's no operational

necessity for it, and, furthermore, it's not the right optic. It's

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now how we do things. It's not an optic because she's going to be
President. It's an optic because we, the FBI, don't really liketo
come marching in, you know, loaded for, bean or guns blazing or any other,
sort of turn of phrase that you want to use where it's not operationally
necessary.

So, if you're executing a search warrant, you're going to come
with a bunch of dudes. If you're trying to conduct an interview, it's
not really appropriate to come with an army full of -- notwithstanding
my friends here -- an army full of lawyers and agents.

Mr. Gowdy. Drawing on your' background as prosecutor and as
counsel for, the Bureau, what is operationally necessary about having
other potential fact witnesses attend an interview?

Ms. Page. I do not know. I would agree with you that it is not
typically appropriate or operationally necessary to have fact
witnesses attend the interview.

Mr. Gowdy. Do you know whether any potential fact witnesses
attended the interview -- we'll start with Secretary Clinton?

Ms. Page. It's my understanding that both Cheryl Mills and, I
think, Heathen Samuelson attended her' interview.

Mr. Gowdy. who made the decision to allow them to be present?

Ms. Page. Somebody at the Department. I do not know whom.

Mr. Gowdy. And when you say the Department, you're
distinguishing the Department from the Bureau?

Ms. Page. Yes. I'm sorry. I will always call the Bureauthe

FBI or the Bureau, and the Department the Justice Department orthe

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Department.

Mr. Gowdy. Were potential fact witnesses allowed to sit in in
any of the other universe of interviews where things were done
differently?

Ms. Page. Not to my knowledge.

Mr. Gowdy. So the best of your" knowledge, it was only hen
interview where potential fact witnesses were allowed to sit in?

Ms. Page. That's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. Now, as a former prosecutor, I am sure that struck
you as being highly irregular?

Ms. Page. We all at the FBI disagreed with it. And I recall both
lawyers for, the FBI calling to -- calling over' to the prosecutors, and
I am certain that Pete called over' to the prosecutors to say, "This
is BS," I'm sure is probably how he would have phrased it, likewhy
are they attending. And the answer' that we received back was that they
did not have the -.. they didn't see a legal basis to exclude them from
the interview because Secretary Clinton was representing them as her
lawyers.

Mr. Gowdy. Had she been interviewed in a compulsory setting,
would she have been allowed to have fact witnesses present?

Ms. Page. I don't think that makes a difference. Well, I'm
sorry. Do you mean like in a grand Jury?

Mr. Gowdy. Yeah, like a grand Jury.

Ms. Page. In a gr'and jury, she wouldn't have anybody present.

Mr. Gowdy. Right. Including your' lawyer'.

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Ms. Page. She would not be permitted to have any lawyer present;
that's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. Right.

Ms. Page. Right.

Mr. Gowdy. Do you know who at the Department would have made the
decision to allow potential fact witnesses to be present?

Ms. Page. I do not, sir.

Mr. Gowdy. who would be the universe of folks that would have
the authority to do so?

Ms. Page. I presume -- so the reason I hesitate is because I
don't know -- I know who the two line prosecutors were who we worked
with regularly. I'm sorry. Oh. I worked with the two -- I know who
the two line prosecutors were who were sort of responsible for the
day-to-day investigative activity. I do not know whether, they made
thosedecisionsontheirtsnonwhether'theyconsu1tedtheirsuper'ioPs,
which would have been David Laufman and George Toscas again. I Just
don't know.

Mr. Gowdy. I want to go to March 3, 2916. Well, actually, let
me ask you, Secretary Clinton was interviewed on July --

Ms. Page. I think 2nd, I believe so.

Mr. Gowdy. -- 2. Do you recall when Attorney General Lynch
r'ecused herself?

Ms. Page. Either right before or right after'. I don'tremember
exactly.

Mr. Gowdy. Would she have been still making the decisions on the

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case? Would she have still not been recused by the time these
conversations take -- took place about who could and could not be
present?

Ms. Page. Oh, oh, oh. So -- well,two things. I guess,first,
I am not sure she ever' formally recused herself. She sort of, I think,
did a half step, which I think she's been criticized for', which was
thatshedidn'tfu11ysortofstepawayfr'omtheinuestigationfo11oudng
the tarmac incident. She said that she would defer to the sort of
judgment of the career prosecutors. So I don't -- I wouldn't -- we can
call that a recusal if that's how you want to frame it, but I don't
know that that legally would be considered one.

I really do not know. This case was unusual in that most of the
high-profile matters that I have been a part of during my services as
Mr. McCabe's counsel required fairly regular meetings with high-level
Justice Department officials and so it was not uncommon to be briefing
the Attorney General, and certainly more likely the DeputyAttorney
General or the PADAG about the status of certain investigations.

And in this investigation, I do not believe that the FBI ever'
provided a substantive briefing other, than very, very early in the
investigation before I was working for, the Deputy Director and before
Andy McCabe was the Deputy Director'.

So I actually can't answer' any questions substantively with
respect to what kind of briefings and what Loretta Lynch or Sally Yates
or other, high-level Justice Department officials knew and when because

we were not really privy at all to what sort of briefings and who was

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delivering them and what the substance was of them.

Mr. Gowdy. I'm going based on memory here because I don't have
the text in front of me, and if you don't recall it, then we'llget
somebody to pull it up for us. But I have in the vague recessesof
my memory a text you either sent or received that reterred to Loretta
Lynch as something others than a profile in courage.

Ms. Page. Yep, I remember that one.

Mr. Gowdy. Would that have been in connection with hen decision
to Pecuse herself?

Ms. Page. Right. So that was in -- that was in response to the
tarmac episode. And as I said, also from memory, so this may be off
a little bit, but my recollection is that she represented publicly that
she would defer, to the judgments or the recommendations of the career
pr'osecutor's. And I think my text said something to the effect of:
It's a real profile in courage since she knows no char'ges would be
brought.

At this point, this is late -- or early July, and so that does
represent a presumption onmy pant. I do not have knowledge, actual
personal knowledge that she knew no -- knew charges -- that she knew
no changes would be brought. But every single person on the team,
whether, FBI or DOC, knew far earlier than July that we were not going
to be able to make out sufficient evidence to change a crime. And so
that was my supposition, but I don't actually know that she knew that.

Mr. Gowdy. I think one thing that folks sometimes struggle with

is when that conclusion is reached and how many interviews are left

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to be conducted before that interview is reached, and in particular,
how many substantive interviews are left, like, for instance, including
the subject.

Ms. Page. Uh-huh.

Mr. Gowdy. So how could you know before you talk to the subject
that the subject would not say something inculpatory during the
interview?

Ms. Page. Chairman, I certainly take your' point. I imagine
you've probably had this exper'ience too. At a certain point, when you
have examined exhaustively every sort of avenue that you can with
r'espect to available evidence, night, there's only -- ifyou have found
nothing beyond testimony, right, beyond somebody saying, yes, Idid
this wrong or no, I didn't do this, it's challenging to be able to then
confront a witness and try to -- despite whether, you think that there
was -- let me take a step back.

So the primary look in this investigation was mishandling of
classified information, night. And so what we were looking for, in
particular' was some indicia of knowledge that she knew these particular
communications shouldn't be tr'aver'sing the ser'ver' she set up, that they
were, in fact, classified, that there was a sort of purposeful -- or,
you know, an intent to mishandle classified information.

And so, when -- by the point -- and I can't give you a precise
date but, you know, March, April, Mayish, night, in the sort of ear'ly
spring, when the bulk of -- the bulk of the investigative activity with

respect to forensics, with respect to interviews of people who set up

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the servers, like all of the people who you might think are not so
closely connected to Secretary Clinton, that if there wassomething
nefarious there, you might actually be able to find it, by that point,
we simply did not see anything.

And so she's a very sophisticated woman. Cheryl Mills, Jake
Sullivan, these are very smart, very savvy, you know, Washington
players. They will all have highly competent counsel. So I don't
think there was a strong expectation that the witness interviews were
going to provide contrary evidence that we had uncovered -- evidence
contrary to what we had uncovered to date.

Certainly, it's possible. It doesn't mean that it's not
possible. But without being able to take a document and say, "Ma'am,
how do you explain this, you know, this suggests X, how can you possibly
say that this was the problem," there wasn't a strong expectation that
the interviews were going to change the sense of the team, which was
that there would not be a prosecutable case.

Mr. Gowdy. what element, in your" judgment, was missing from
making the case potentially prosecutable?

Ms. Page. Well, I am not super' comfortable without looking at
a statute night now. I'm sorry. I don't know if somebody has it, only
because I don't want to misspeak. But I can say broadly: I think we
all agr'eed -- rock on. Nice work. Thank you. One second, please.

Is it F? I can't remember.

Mr. Parmiter. Yes, F.

Ms. Page. So I should also say, I don't sort of formally work

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in counterintelligence. I was -- when I was a prosecutor' I did
organized crime work so I did not do national security work. And so
I am, like the further -- I am a lawyer, but I am not an expert in this
area at all. But --

Mr. Gowdy. Well, I may -- can ask you a question that will make
it easier'.

Ms. Page. Sure. Thank you.

Mr. Gowdy. Director Comey said what was missing was intent.

Ms. Page. Right.

Mr. Gowdy. IG Horowitz said what was missing, in his judgment,
was knowledge. And it strikes me both of those would be of interest
when you're interviewing the subject. The subject might actually be
uniquely well positioned to address those two missing elements. So
does it refresh your' recollection at all that it might have been intent
or knowledge?

Ms. Page. I think both are absolutely the case, but, again, it
goes back to the point I made earlier, which is she will also know that
intent and knowledge ape the sort of two critical elements inorder
to prove this case. And to the extent that she at least knew all of
the emails that were, you know, produced from hen server -- and, you
know, I have no idea what sort of defense work hen -- she and hen team
at Williams & Connolly were doing, but these ape fairly sophisticated
attorneys, and so it's absolutely the case that a witness mightsay
something that would speak to intent or knowledge.

But the general thinking was that this witness was going to be

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sufficiently well prepared, that an error to the -- I mean, again, I
can't say whether she had the intent or not. I have no evidence. I
cannot point to any particular -- so I don't want to be unfair, to the
Secretary either.

I cannot point to anything with respect to what the team uncovered
that spoke to hen having an intent to mishandle classified information.
I think it was not smart, but I don't think that it was -- it's my
personal opinion, I don't -- I can understand why the Judgment of the
team was that this was not a prosecutable case.

And I guess, if I can just -- we didn't really do any background,
but if I can do one tiny second on that.

I stand in an awkward position with respect to this investigation
because I'm not formally on the team, the Midyear team, with the
investigative people who are looking at the evidence every day and
meeting every day on their -- you know, to team up and see whatthe
next steps are. So I'm -- I don't have the sort of substantive
knowledge that Pete or the other agents or the other, attorneys or Jon
Moffa (ph) would have because I'm not involved in the day-to-day
decisionmaking; I'm not involved in the day-to-day uncovering of
evidence. Iamnotreadingevery302. I'mactuallynotreadinghardly
any 3025. I'm working for the Deputy Director. And so what the
information that I have that I'm sharing now is largely information
that's -- that I'm gleaning from meetings with the Deputy Director or
the Director, you know, sort of the weekly or whatever tempo we were

at at any period of time, updates that the Dir'ector, and the Deputy

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Director, were receiving.

Mr. Gowdy. All right. I want to switch over to March of 2016.
It's a text from you to Special Agent Peter, Strzok.

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. What's the date, sin? March --

Mr. Go_wdy, March 3nd, 2016.

Ms. Page. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. "God. Trump is a loathsome human."

Ms. Page. I see that.

Mr. Gowdy. what did you mean by that?

Ms. Page. I don't recall.

Mr. Gowdy. what does the word "loathsome" mean?

Ms. Page. Well, obviously, I know what that means. But Iguess
my point, sir -- and let me look because I did have -- ah. So this
helps. So what is occurring, my belief, is, is that we are watching
a Republican debate, and so this is us watching and sort oftexting
each others during the course of the debate. And I have absolutely no
idea what particular thing was uttered that I was responding to,
but -- and this is also the one, I will say, that, you know, in which,
you know, genitalia sizeis discussed. So I don't know whether, that
is a reflection of that or some others sort of shocking and outlandish
thing that I thought did not fit the candidate for, Presidency. But
that is what that's a reflection of.

Mr. Gowdy. One day later, on March the 4th, there is a text from
you to Special Agent Strzok: Poor, Kasich. He's the only sensible man

up there.

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what did you mean by "up there"?

Ms. Page. I think -- my guess is, on the podium with the
other, -- I am not sure the dates ace right. I have no --

Mr. Gowdy. Could it have been a debate when he was the only one
that, In your' Judgment, was sensible on a debate stage?

Ms. Page. Yes. That's my -- I don't know why the date is
different, but you totally cannot rely on the dates the way these things
get pulled. But, yeah, my guess is that it is -- they are all on the
debate stage. This is a reflection of my saying, like, he's a sensible
man, and this is a shame.

Mr. Gowdy. Let's flip to Nay of 2017, May the 9th of 2017. This
is actually a text from Special Agent Strzok to you. And it begins:
And we need.

Mr. Jeffress. Did you say 2017?

Mr. Gowdy. Yes, ma'am.

Ms. Page. Oh, sorry. May 8, you said, sir?

Mr. Gowdy. I have it down as the 9th, but it may well be the 8th.
It begins, "And we need."

Ms. Page. May 9.

what am I missing here, Amy?

Okay. I don't have it. If you can read it to me.

No, it's not. This is the gap period, right, the December to
May 17th or 18th or something like that.

It's not in this book, sir, but go ahead.

Mr. Gowdy. I'm happy to read it to you.

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Ms. Page. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. "And we need to open the case we've been waiting on
now while Andy is acting."

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Gowdy. who is Andy?

Ms. Page. Andy is Mr. McCabe.

Mr. Gowdy. And this is, what, a day after Director Comey has been
fined?

Ms. Page. That's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. whatisthecasethatyoucouldnotopenwhenJimComey
was the Director but you might be able to since Andy is acting?

Ms. Page. You're misreading that text, sip.

Mr. Jeffress. Do you need to consult with FBI counsel?

Ms. Page. Yeah. Let me -- may I consult with counsel
momentarily?

Mr. Jeffress. There may be instructions on whether or not she
can discuss this case.

Mr. Gowdy. Okay.

[Discussion off the r'ecor'd.)

Ms. Page. Thank you, sip.

I've been instructed by FBI counsel that what I can say is the
decision to open the case was not about who was occupying the Director's
chair.

Mr. Gowdy. Pardon me? Sure.

Mr. Breitenbach. Can you inform us what the rationale is for, a

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former, employee consulting an FBI lawyer on whether there is guidance
on answering a question from Congress?

Ms. Bessee. Sur‘e. The guidance is based on the fact that the
information she is testifying about is related to FBI information, FBI
investigations. And the information that she's also testifying about
she has been privy to as an FBI employee. So it is not hep personal
information. She would not have gleaned that information but for, the
fact she was an FBI employee at the time and it irivolves FBI equities.

Mr. Breitenbach. Do you have any legal basis for, making that
decision?

Ms. Bessee. When FBI --

Mr. Breitenbach. Meaning, is there a regulation OP a statute
that you can point to on whether --

Ms. Bessee. I'm not sure I can point to a regulation OP statute.
But whether, you are current or' former FBI employee, as part of the
process of becoming that employee, you sign -- you -- when you get your'
clearance you sign nondisclosures for, the accesses' that you get. And
based on that, whether you're current OP former FBI. employee, you
cannot -- and the Touhy nights as well.

Mr. Breitenbach. And the what?

Ms. Bessee. Touhy nights. The Touhy ex rel. Ragen case also
refers to that. And I'd have to look at it to be able to quote to you.
We can get that at some point, but that's what I can tell you night
now.

Mr. Gowdy. If we start citing case law, you're going to lose most

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of the Members of Congress.

Mr. Meadows. So, excuse me, Mr. Chairman, how long does this
last? I guess, how long do you actually provide counsel to previous
employees, I mean, in perpetuity?

Ms. Bessee. Yes. As long as it relates to FBI information and
FBI cases.

Mr. Gowdy. All night. We'll try it again.

This is from Special Agent Strzok to you'. And we need to open
the case we've been waiting on while Andy is acting.

You, I think, if I understood your' answer, correctly, you've been
authorized by the Bureau to tell us that that case was not contingent
upon who the Director of the FBI was?

Ms. Page. That is correct.

Mr. Gowdy. Which you would have to have a lot of creativity to
be able to read that text and peach that conclusion?

Ms. Page. I completely understand that. And if I was ableto
explain in more depth why the Director firing precipitated this text,
I would.

Mr. Gowdy. Did it relate -- this is May of 2017. Did itrelate
in any way with the Russia investigation, the potential collusion
between the Russian Government and/or' others in the Trumpcampaign?

Ms. Page. Yes. I don't see what, I mean -- yes.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, then I'm sure you can appreciate the curiosity
of not just Members of Congress but anyone wanting to knoulwhy something

could not be done when Jim Comey was the Director, but yet the pathway

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might be easier' with Andy McCabe?

Ms. Page. Right. So it's not that it could not be done. So the
next -- let me look at it more closely. where was it, Amy?

Mr. Gowdy. I think it says: Waiting on.

Ms. Page. 0h, here it is. So it's not -- and this is a very
importantdistinction. It'snotthatitcouldnothavebeendone. The
"waiting on" -- again, you have to understand that this is a -- was
a -- this case had been a topic of discussion for, some time. The
"waiting on" was an Indecision and a cautiousness on the part of the
Bureau with respect to what to do, whether there was sufficient
predication to open.

Mr. Gowdy. why would Andy be less cautious than Comey?

Ms. Page. Sir, all I can tell you is that the occupant of the
seat was irrelevant. I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, I got your' answer', but just help me square it
with the text: And we need to open the case we've been waiting on
now while Andy is acting.

Was that a fear, that someone other than McCabe would eventually
be put into that slot?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry, sir. May I consult with counsel again?

[Discussion off the record.]

Ms. Page. Sin, I'm sorry. I've been instructed by FBI counsel
that I cannot answer, that question at this time.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, that leads at least some of us to conclude that

it may have been an obstruction of justice case. And the fact that

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Comey was actually fined would have, in some people's judgment, added
to the salience of an obstruction of justice case. Can you say whether
or not that's what it was?

Ms. Page. That's a reasonable inference, sir, but I cannot, sort
of, confirm that that's what we are referring to.

Mr. Gowdy. Was there an active obstruction case going on at the
time Comey was fired?

Ms. Page. I think that goes to the particular investigative
interest that we had in the Russian collusion case starting at the end
of July through this time period, and I can't answer' that question at
this time, sir.

Mr. Gowdy. I think Comey was actually fined on that day.

Ms. Page. He was fired on May 9th. But whether, this
text -- again, Just given the UTC and the way these aretranslated,
this is either, the 9th or the 16th, would be my guess. But it was -- he
was fired at night on the 9th, so --

Mr.§gwgy; Sothefir'ingof3imComeywasthepr'ecipitatingevent
as opposed to the occupant of the Director's office?

Ms. Page. Yes, that's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, other than obstruction, what could it have
been?

Ms. Page. I can't answer' that, sir. I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. Is there anything other, than obstruction that it
could have been?

Ms. P_age_, I can't answer.

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Mr. Gowdy. Was it a bank fraud case?

Ms. Page. I really, actually, honestly, can't answer'.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, on down, I think I see a text, "We need to lock
in," and it's been redacted, "in a formal, chargeable way soon." You
see that?

Ms. Page. I do, sir.

Mr. Gowdy. Who's the "we"?

Ms. Page. "We" is the FBI.

Mr. Gowdy. Now, does the Bureau consult with the Department or
U.S. Attorney's Offices before it locks in charges?

Ms. Page. Yes, but that's not what this text says.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, no.

Ms. Page. 0h.
Mr. Go_wdy, We're going to get to that in a second.

Ms. Page. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. "We need to lock in,' redacted, "in a formal,
chargeable, way." Do you consult with the Department or
U.S. Attorney's Offices before you change someone, other thanthose
who commit a crime in your' presence?

Ms. Page. We cannot change someone. We require assistance by
an AUSA or the Department in order, to bring charges.

Mr. Gowdy. All night. And this is before Special Counsel
Mueller' was appointed?

Ms. Page. Correct.

Mr. Gowdy. what U.S. Attorney's Office or division of the

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Department were you working with on this case?

Ms. Page. The counterintelligence section. I believe the
Eastern District of Virginia was also involved, but I'm really not
certain. I'm pretty sure at this point they were, but I can't be
106 percent positive.

Mr. Gowdy. What's "a formal, chargeable way" as opposed to an
informal, chargeable way?

Ms. Page. So I don't -- I don't -- that's not the turn of phrase
that I read. what this is suggesting -- I don't actually know who we're
talking about, to be honest with you, so I'm speculating a little bit
because I don't remember what this text was about. But my suspicion
is, we have either, been interviewing some witness or have been getting
kind of closer, to some tar'get, either, we've already had interviews or
we haven't. I just don't remember who we're talking about.

And so we ace -- to me, we need to lock in so-and-so means like:
Okay, we need to get them probably under, oath like in a grand jury or,
you know, with the 1061 admonition in advance of the interviews so that
we have a chance to charge a false statement to the extent a false
statement is made during the course of the interview.

And so what "a formal, changeable way" means is -- and, again,
I don't know who we're talking about, but rather than just have an FBI
interview, which is maybe not with a -- not with the mindsettoward
wanting to be able to charge based on the interview, that whatthis
is suggesting is, like, we need to start thinking about locking in

whomever, in a way that might be able to suppor't charges.

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Mr. Gowdy. Now, that portion of the text, is it from you or from
Special Agent Strzok?

Ms. Page. I have no idea. I never know who this is.

Mr. Gowdy. I think it may be from you, but I stand to be
corrected.

Ms. Page. I don't have any basis to challenge you, but honestly,
they change each set of text and everything, so I'm really not certain.
Let's see.

Mr. Gowdy. It begins, "We need to lock in."

Ms. Page. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it looks like it's me, yes.

Mr. Gowdy. All right. What would the purpose of that redaction
be?

Ms. Page. Well, I didn't make it, so I don't know. My guess is
that that represents an individual who is either a subject of the Russia
investigation or' otherwise a witness or something, and so, therefore,
it's being redacted, but I don't know.

Mr. Gowdy. If you're talking about locking in someone's
testimony, I guess what I'm trying to understand is, I could seeif
you said in a formal way, a formal setting, interview, grand jury. It's
the word "chargeable" that I'm struggling with.

Ms. Page. So my suspicion, again -- and I don't know because I
don't remember who we're talking about, but my suspicion is thatwe
have somebody who we think is lying. Again, I'm just guessing. And
so, to the extent we want to be able to charge them for lying, we need

to lock them in in a formal way, in a way in which we will be able to

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support those changes, But I am just speculating because I do not
remember who we're talking about.

Mr. Gowdy. Is that response connected to his text, "And we need
to open the case we've been waiting on"?

Ms. Page. No. No, it is not. That I am confident in.

Mr. Gowdy. How are you confident in that?

Ms. Page. Because -- I'm sorry. I don't know how to answer' the
question without going more into the content of the prior' text, sir.

Mr. Gowdy. All right. I'm sure I'll have colleagues that will
come backto that. I want to go to August 15, 2016. It's a text from
Special Agent Peter, Strzok to you., It begins, "I want to believe."

Ms. Page. August, I am sorry, lg?

Mr. Gowdy. I have it down as August 15.

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. I'm just not hearing you. Sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. "I want to believe" is how it begins.

Ms. Page. Yep.

Mr. Gowdy. I want to believe the path you threw out in Andy's
office, dash, that there is no way he gets elected, dash, 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 M.

And that was Agent Strzok to you. Is that night?

Ms. Page. That's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. All right: I want to believe the path you threw out
in Andy's office.

Did you understand the "you" to be you, Lisa Page?

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Ms. Page. I'm sure that it is.

Mr. Gowdy. And Andy would be whom?

Ms. Page. Andy McCabe.

Mr. Gowdy. Is there any chance he could be any other Andy?

Ms. Page. No, I don't think so.

Mr. Gowdy. How long did this conversation last?

Ms. Page. I have no idea.

Mr. Gowdy. Do you recall anyone else being present?

Ms. Page. I imagine that there were. Typically a
meeting -- Andy and I would have certainly had meetings individually,
but because FBI is as hierarchical as it is, the way -- it would have
been unusual for, Pete, who at this point was probably still a section
chief, to have been in a meeting without at least his superior, his
boss, or even his boss' boss. That's Just how we operate. Wetend to
bring the whole chain of command.

Mr. Gowdy. What do you make of the dash?

I want to believe the path you threw out in Andy's office, dash,
that there is no way he gets elected.

What does that clause "that there is no way he gets elected"
modify?

Ms. Page. So I'll be honest: I don't remember -- and this
was -- I don't remember precisely this event or this meeting. And,
in fact, I went back, and some time ago looked at a calendar, and there
was nothing on the calendar' that there was sort of a formal meeting.

But I know sort of the sentiment that this text is meant to reflect,

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if I can explain that.

Mr. Gowdy. Sure. I just want you to keep in mind we are 15 days
into a then-nascent counter'inte1ligence investigation.

Ms. Page. Yes. Yes, I understand that.

Mr. Gowdy. If that helps put it in context.

Ms. Page. It definitely does. So, upon the opening of the
crossfire hurricane investigation, we had a number of discussions up
through and including the Director regularly in which we were trying
to find an answer' to the question, right, which is, is there someone
associated with the campaign who is working with the Russians in order
to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton. And given that
it is August, we were very aware of the speed and the sensitivity that
we needed to operate under.

And so we had sort of quite regular conversations about trying
to balance getting the answer' as quickly as possible, right, because
if the answer is this is a guy just being puffery at a meetingwith
other, people, great, then we don't need to worry about this, and we
can all move on with our lives; if this is, in fact, the Russians have
coopted an individual with, you know, maybe wittingly or' unwittingly,
that's incredibly grave, and we need to know that as quickly as
possible. _

And so what this text reflects is our sort of continuing check-in
almost with respect to how quickly to operate, what types of tools to
use, trying to be as quiet as possible about it because we knew so little

about what -- whether this was true or not true or what was going to

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come, because this is, as you said, so nascent in the investigation,
and then ultimately trying to balance that against my view, inthis
case, which was we don't need to go at a total breakneck speed because
so long as he doesn't become President, there isn't the samethreat
to national security, right.

So, by which, I mean if he is not elected, then, to the extent
that the Russians were colluding with members of his team, we're still
going to investigate that even without him being President, because
any time the Russians do anything with a U.S. person, we care, and it's
very serious to us. But if he becomes President, that totally changes
the game because now he is the President of the United States. He's
going to immediately start receiving classified briefings. He's going
to be exposed to the most sensitive secrets imaginable. And if there
is somebody on his team who wittingly or unwittingly is working with
the Russians, that is super' serious.

And so what this reflects is my saying, he's not going to be
elected. So let's not burn -- I think this, in particular, was whether,
we use certain investigative methods which might be -- sorry. I'm
trying to balance the instruction that I've given with respect to
investigative step and -- but wanting to be forthcoming.

Mr. Gowdy. I think we know what you're getting at.

Ms. Page. Okay. Okay. So -- so, anyway, so this reflects:
Let's be reasonable; let's not, you know, throw the kitchen sinkat
this because he's probably not going to be elected, and so then we don't

have quite as horrific a national security threat than if we do if he

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gets elected.

Mr. Gowdy. All right. I want you to hold that thought for, a
second.

Ms. Page. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. The counter‘intelligence investigation was initiated
on July 31.

Ms. Page. That's correct.

Mr. Gowdy. How many witness interviews were done between July 31
and August the 15th?

Ms. Page. I don't know that answer'. I do know -- I mean, I'm
allowed to say this now, night?

Ms. Bessee. Yes.

Ms. Page. Okay. Sorry. I know that there - I'm aware
of " certainly between --

Mr. Gowdy. I'm aware of - Are you aware of -

Ms. Page. I'm aware of - sip.

Mr. Gowdy.. when is the -

Ms. Page. I'm not allowed --

Mr. Go_wdy_. what was the date?

Ms. Page. I'm not permitted to say, sin.

Mr. Gowdy. Was it -

Ms. Page. No, it was not. - but before -- I don't

remember now, but - yes.

Oh, I don't know the date, sip. I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. Chairman Goodlatte wanted to know why you can't

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provide us with the date of that interview?

Ms. Page. I don't recall the precise date. I just -- my

recollection is that there is -
- I lust don't know the date.

Mr. Go-wth., Was the interview done -

Ms. Lage, Yes.

Mr. Gowdy. Are you aware of -

Ms. P_age_'- Well. almost -
. so --

Mr. Gowdy. with respect to the origination of this case, ace you
aware of -

Ms. Page. No. No.

Mr. Gowdy. So we're referring to - It's Just
a question of whether _->

Ms. Page. My --

Mr. Gowdy. Let me ask you this: Was it -- is the
-
Ms. Page. e. —

- I do not know if it --
-. I Just don't know. There are --

Mr. Gowdy. Is it a -
-

Ms. Bessee. I think we need to -- may we confer with our' client,
Mr'. Chairman?

Mr. Gowdy. Sure.

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[Discussion off the record.]

Ms. Page. Sir, I've been advised by FBI counsel that becausethat

starts to get into -
that question, sin.

Mr. Gowdy. Did the interview take place in the United States or
somewhere else?

Ms. Page. I can't answer' that, sip.

Mr. Gowdy. why is where the interview took place protected?

Ms. Page. My guess is because -lll-Ill
-

Mr. Gowdy. Well, right now, we're within the United States and
outside of the United States. Those are two pretty big categories.

Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, I would instruct the -- I'm going to
instruct her not to answer' because it goes into sort of what's under,
the purview of the special counsel in terms of whether it's gathering,
looking at the evidence they looked at, whether, it's gathering
evidence, whether it's talking to sources. That all goes into what
investigative methods that the special counsel is looking at, so I will
instruct her, not to r'espond.

Mr. Gowdy. Well, I've tried to be really careful not to go into
the substance of these interviews. I'm trying to establish a
chronology. We have a conversation about an insurance policy on
August 15, and Ms. Page has walked us through the analysis that there
was a weighing and balancing of whether, or not President Trump was

likely to win. And I would like to engage in a weighing and balancing

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of whether, or' not he was likely going to be inculpated in their,
investigation. So I don't know how I can do that without having some
conversation about what information existed.

Ms. Bessee. And --

Mr. Gowdy. I mean, I didn't authonthis text. It's not mine.
And if you're discussing -- and hen answer" clearly discussed
whether, -- his prospects for, a successful campaign and whether, OP not
he would be elected President. I think it's faip to discuss the
prospects of a successful investigation.

Ms. Bessee. And while I understand what you're looking to get
at, NP. Chairman, it also still goes into what the special counsel -- in
terms of what the special counsel is looking at in their' investigation.
They look at the evidence gathered, how evidence is gathered. All of
that still impacts the special counsel --

Mr. Gowdy. How does the location of an interview impact Special
Counsel Mueller's ability to investigate a matter?

Ms. Bessee. That -- I am responding in a way based on the
guidance we received from the special counsel. There -- equities are
involved here. So that would be something that you would have to
discuss further. But based on the guidance we've been given by the
special counsel, that would impact their, investigation itself.

Mr. Gowdy. All night. I'm sure I'll have colleagues whowill
want to follow up on that. I think I'm about out of --

Mr. papmitep. Can we just note for the record that the objection

to these questions is contrary to what we understand to be House of

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Representatives policy. So we would, you know, take issue with you
not answering those questions, Just to note for' the record at this
point. I'm sure we're going to pun into this again.

Mr. Gowdy. I want the record --

bln. Jeffress. What policy are you noting?

Mr. Parmiter. I'm speaking of discussions that have been held
at the highest levels of this body over" the last couple of days. I
know we don't recognize, you know, testimonial privileges. You know,
we're not asking questions that ace substantive in nature that pertain
to the ongoing investigation. As Chairman Gowdy just pointed out,
we're asking about locations of interviews. ble'pe asking about dates.
We're asking about things like that. We're not asking substantive
questions.

Mr. Gowdy. Just so the record is clear -- although it usually
is, and you don't usually have to say "for the record," so I won't -- if
witness Page's answer' includes an analysis of the likelihood of a
successful campaign, it is not unreasonable to also ask whether, or' not
it was a factoring in of the likelihood of a successful investigation.

Ms. Page. Sin, my -- I'm sorry.

Mr. Gowdy. Pardon me?

Ms. Page.. I was just going to clarify, if maybe it would help,
my answer' does not -- would not speak to an analysis with respect
to -- the question, was it in the United States, or' was it -
doesn't speak to an analysis with the respect to the success or' not

of the Presidential campaign. I don't know if that helps at all, but --

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Mr. Gowdy. No. what I was getting at is when we were going over'
the text of this insurance policy, I thought there was a debate as to
whether or not he was likely to get elected.

Ms. Page. Well, the only reason that debate is relevant is
because we, the team, again, like sort of through Director Comey, were
trying to decide how aggressive or not aggressive, or do we burn sources
or not burn sources or do we use X tools or Y tools, and all of that
was based on the likelihood -- not based on the likelihood of success
but was being weighed against the likelihood of success.

As I sort of explained, if he is not going to be President, then
we don't need to burn longstanding sources and risk sort of the loss
of future investigative outlets, not in this case, but in other
Russia-related matters, in other --

Mr. Gowdy. I am with you. I followed that answer'. But I am
equally sure you can follow the analysis that if there is a paucity
of evidence, that that also would influence your" willingness to burn
sources and use investigative techniques that are likely to be detected
by people who are not our' friends.

Ms. Page. I totally agree. But by this point, at, you know, the
15th, there -- it is at the -- literally the very beginning. So there
is, in fact, a paucity of evidence because we are just starting down
the path to figure out whether, the predication is true or not true,
and who might ultimately be somebody who, if true, would have been in
a position to receive the information.

And so my only, sort of based on counsel's advice, hesitation to

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answer' the "where was it" question is that the answer' would call
for -- the answer' would -- has the potential to reveal a substantive
investigative equity.

Mr. Gowdy. Which I don't want to do. And I appreciate the fact
that if you're talking about one witness, some could consider, that to
be a paucity of evidence on the 15th, which necessarily meansthere
would be a paucity of evidence also on August the 9th.

And I'm looking at a text that you sent to Special Agent Strzok:
Trump's not ever' going to become President, right? Right?

And then the agent who originated this counterintelligence
investigation who is a point of contact, who drafted the initiating
document responding: No, no, he's not. We'll stop it.

Ms. Page. Right. Hell, so, that's a different sort of context,
which I'm happy to explain. The one thing I'll note, I just think it
might maybe alleviate some concern, the reason that Pete opened it is
that it was a Sunday. So the reason he's both the originator and like
the approver is because it was a Sunday, and so there's nobody around.

Mr. Gowdy. July 3lst was a Sunday; you ace correct.

Ms. Page. And so he went in because we were like, holy cow, this
is a big deal, and we're all very stressed about this. And so I think
we learned about the case on a Friday orVThursday or Friday. I can't
remember now. I can do the math, but -- I'm a lawyer.

Mr. Gowdy. 28th.

Ms. Page. Thanks.

Mr. Gowdy. You learned about it on the 28th.

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Ms. Page. Right. Thank you.

And so, for what it's worth, there was just nobody else around,
so -- but -- did you want me to speak to the other, text?

Mr. Gowdy. Yeah. I mean, I think you understand what our'
concern is.

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Gowdy. I do understand weighing and balancing what
investigative tools to use. That requires, in your' judgment, an
analysis of whether or not the candidate's likely to succeed. In my
judgment,italsorequires --thepetgassomeconversationabtoutwhether,
or not he was going to prevail.

Ms. Page. Idefinitelyagreewithyou,Chairman,butIdon'twant
to leave the impression that that was sort of the factor. Thisis,
again, just one single snapshot, one meeting of which we ahehaving
almost daily meetings, given the sort of seriousness of thethreat.
And so it's not accurate to say that the determining factor on what
we did was whether' or not Donald Trump is going to become President.
You asked me what's the context for, this text. That's the context for
that particular text, but that's not the determining factor.

Mr. Gowdy. I did not mean to suggest --

Ms. Page. Okay.

Mr. Gowdy. -- that that was the singular' factor that you were
using. But by the same token, nor would you singularly rely on a CHS
in a prosecution or investigation.

Ms. Page. No.

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Mr. Gowdy. —
- So there's a paucity of evidence and there's
a paucity in some people's minds of a successful campaign. And I'm
looking at texts about insurance policies and stopping a Presidency.

Ms. Page. Right. So let me start with the first thing you said

first. Which is the -- it's true you would -- it's very unlikely that

you would -

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[2:44 p.m.]

Ms. Page. It's more than sufficient to open an FBI
investigation, because, of course, all you need, particularly to open
a preliminary investigation -- although, I think this was openedas
a full -- is an allegation, essentially.

So any kind of -- and I don't remember the exact standard, maybe
one of my FBI friends can remind me -- but for a full you need an
articulable -- oh, my God, I've been gone 2 months and I forget.
Anyway, sorry, I digress, my apologies.

Regardless, at a week's time it is entirely common, particularly
inacounterinte11igenceinvestigation,thatyouwouldon1yhave --you

would have a small amount of evidence, certainly -- but opening an

investigation based on —

Mr. Gowdy. We're out of time.

[Recess.]

Ms. Jackson Lee. We're back on the record.

Ms. Kim; We're back on the record. The time is 2:55.

Ms. Page, thank you for being here. My name is Janet Kim. I'm
a counsel for, Ranking Member, Elijah Cummings for, the House Oversight
Committee.

Our members have some questions for, you, and then we'll progress
to questioning by the staff.

Ms. Page. Sure thing.

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Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. And my only haste is because I have
to catch a plane that does not wait.

Ms. Page. No problem.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And let me thank the staff very much, and
Mr. Raskin, who will proceed afterwards.

Ms. Page, you watched, by any chance, the hear'ings yesterday that
were televised --

Ms. Page. I did.

Ms. Jackson Lee. -- with Mr. Strzok?

Did you have anything that you disagr'eed with him on?

Ms. Page. Oh, gosh. I mean, that was a long hearing. So, no,
not off the top of my head, no.

Ms. Jackson Lee. what is your" thought about the representation
of political bias that impacted the prioritization between the Clinton
and the Russian investigation?

Ms. Page. So bias had nothing to do at all with respect to
prioritization. If by what you mean is in October, so the Weiner laptop
versus -- I mean, as I tried to describe with the majority interview,
ma'am, there is simply no greater threat than what the Russians pose
to the United States.

They are -- they have as an objective, as you well know, the sort
of dismantling of the Western alliance and dilution of democratic
ideals.

And so the notion that a Russian was offering assistance to a

Presidential campaign was incredibly grave to all of us. And withall

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due respect to the Clinton investigation, the possible mishandling of
classified evidence 3 year's prior, for which we had yet to see any
evidence, and for which we didn't necessarily expect that, even with
the sort of revelation of the Weiner laptop, there were certain things
that ultimately made us interested.

But if you were weighing resources with respect to which poses
a graver threat to national security, which is more, frankly,
important, there is no doubt -- at least in mine or anybody else's mind
that I know -- that the Russia investigation posed an incredible threat
to national security, and whether we got into the Weiner laptop simply
did not.

Ms. Jackson Lee. I'm sort of going to weave back and forth in
a numbers of different questions.

Did you know Mr. Baker'?

Ms. Page. Jim Bakers?

Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes.

Ms. Page. Yes, I do.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Was he the source of the salacious dossier?

Ms. Page. The source? No, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. You can affirmatively say that he was not?

Ms. Page. Yes, I can.

Ms. Jackson Lee. You know that there's been r'epr'esentationby
Republicans that he was?

Ms. Page. No, I did not.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And so you're saying that he was not?

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Ms. Page. He was not, no.

Ms. Jackson Lee. You advised Mr. Comey during the presentation
of his first statement about Mrs. Clinton?

Ms. Page. I was one of the members in the room, yeah, who
discussed it with him, yes, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Are you aware about the change in language
to -- from gross to --

Ms. Page. Gross negligence to extremely careless?

Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes.

Ms. Page. I am, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And what was the purpose of that?

Ms. Page. So that came relatively soon after' he provided his
original draft to the team to review. So this is, I suspect, sometime
in May.

It was ultimately the conclusion of some very experienced
counterintelligence lawyers, also in consultation with the Justice
Department, that -- well, let me take a step back.

It was our understanding that we did not -- we neither had
sufficient evidence to change gross negligence, nor' had it ever' been
done, because the Department viewed it as constitutionally vague. And
so when we saw the term gross negligence in the Director's --

Ms. Jackson Lee. Statement.

Ms. Page. -- early draft, we were concerned that that would be
confusing to leave it in there, because it was our understanding that

wedidnothavesufficientevidencenorthesortofconstitutionalbasis

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to charge gross negligence.

And so what we actually did, we didn't actually change gross
negligence to extremely careless, we removed the gross negligence
language. Extremely car'eless. had already appeared in that draft, and
we moved that draft up earlier in the -- I'm sorry, moved that paragraph
up earlier in the draft.

And so it looks like it was essentially a substitution, but,
really, it was just an omission of the word gross negligence because
we thought it would be confusing, because it has an actual legal term.

Ms.JacksonLee. Youhadbothtwofunctioningattorneygenerals,
Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. As counsel,
why would you allow Mr. Comey, a police officer, to make that
presentation? Did you not -- what did you counsel him?

Ms. Page. Honestly, we all felt that we were more credible than
the Justice Department to close this investigation out. And so it was
in genuinely good faith. And I honestly did not anticipate the
criticism, although I understand the criticism as I sit her'etoday.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Well, do you regret not counseling otherwise?

Ms. Page. I'm not sure, ma'am. ble all in very good faith thought
that the integrity of the FBI and the independence by which we operate
would give greater' confidence to the American people that this
investigation was done fairly, because it was, and it was an amazing
team, and they worked incredibly hard.

And the closer, we got to sort of the intense political process,

the less crediblewe felt-we, the whole team, r'ea11y-fe1t that the

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Justice Department, being led by Democrats, would be toessentially
absolve the Democratic candidate.

And so the intent was really quite earnest and genuine. And so,
while I appreciate the criticism, I really don't -- I don't know what
I would do again. I mean --

Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me Just give you this final question and
then I'm going to go into another, series of questions.

You're talking about two seasoned prosecutors, Ms. Lynch, Ms.
Yates, could have even written their, statement.

Ms. Page. It's not at all about their' capability. They are both
absolutely enormously capable. It's really about perception.

And so I think that the Director's view -- and again, I'm speaking
for, him, so it is an awkward position to be in because he's a pretty
good speaker' -- but the perception I think was that, look, she is -- she
was so -- she is so loathed, she is a very polarizing figure, Secretary
Clinton, and so we all knew it was 109 per'cent consistent and universal
that she was -- there was not a prosecutable case.

And we, the FBI, thought that that message was more credible
coming from the FBI, who is independent and is not a political sort
of body, in the same way that the Justice Depar'tment is being headed
by political appointees who have closer relationships with the white
House.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Well, I think you have determined that that
didn't work.

Ms. Page. It has not been fun, ma'am.

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Ms. Jackson Lee. The perception of the FBI is lawenforcement
inside the Justice Department, and the Director' ls not a Cabinet
appointee. And so they are not considered equal to a Cabinet
appointee.

Ms. Page. Agreed.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And in essence it is like a mayor' and a chief
of police in a higher' level.

So what was intended for' good did not turn out well. And so I
was just wondering whether there was consultation to sort of vet what
would have been the best approach.

Ms. Page. Yes, there was.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Would it not -- and I'll make this is the last
one -- could you not per'ceive the Attorney General and the FBI Director
standing together, Attorney General making the first announcement and
the FBI Director then making a followup?

Ms.P_age, blecer'tain1ycould,anditwasamongtheuardousthings
that we discussed.

With all due earnestness, I don't honestly have the sense that
the Attorney General was ultimately disappointed, because it really
did let the Justice Department off the hook.

Everybody talks about this as if this was the FBI investigation,
and the truth of the matter' is there was not a single step, other, than
the July 5th statement, there was not a single investigative step that
we did not do in consultation with or at the direction of the Justice

Department.

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And so the reality is this has turned Into the FBI investigation
of Secretary Clinton, but it was, in fact, a joint investigation, as
most ape.

And so I certainly agree that the intent backfired, but it is my
firm belief that it was done in good faith.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me quickly go to these questions.

Ape FBI agents allowed to have personal political affiliations?

Ms. Page. Yes, they ape.

Ms. Jackson Lee. When the FBI staffs a politically sensitive
investigation -- for example, a public corruption case -- does the FBI
consider, the personal political persuasion of its agents in making
those staffing decisions?

Ms. Page. Absolutely not. That would be highly inappropriate.

Ms. Jackson Lee. when the FBI puts together a team of
investigators is the consideration ever', "I need a couple of
Republicans or a couple of Democrats"?

Ms. Page. No, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Does the FBI ask about the political
affiliations of its own agents as they ace employed or as they are
promoted to another position?

Ms. Page. That's illegal and impermissible, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. In fact, it is explicitly forbidden for, the FBI
to ask about political affiliations when staffing investigations,
correct?

Ms. Page. Correct.

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Ms. Jackson Lee. How do FBI agents know not to let political bias
interfere with their political work?

Ms. Page. Because it is our' identity. It literally pervades
everything we do. It is not -- and I appreciate that this maybe Just
is -- feels weird, because you are political people and sort of this
is your' identity, but both at the Justice Department, where I started
my career, and at the FBI, where I ended my public service for now,
duty and institutional value is paramount. That is what we all think
about. And that is our' -- what you feel personally or politically is
irrelevant.

And if I might say one more thing. Many of us in law enforcement
really dislike the subject of our investigations, right. We are not
keen on pedophiles and fraudsters and spies and human traffickers. We,
in fact, detest many of them.

And if you were to pull the text messages of agents investigating,
you know, people who are engaged in child exploitation or human
trafficking, I'm quite certain you would find quite harshlanguage.
And that is fine.

What would be impermissible is to take that harsh language and
to act in some way that was illegal or against the rules. And we don't
do it. And if somebody did do it, they'd.be crushed.

Ms. Jackson Lee. So the inspector' general's report, which
indicates although they were uncomfortable with the various
engagements and texts, but their summary dealt with their lack of being

able to discern bias, you are wholeheartedly saying that you were both

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investigating the Clinton investigation, and if the Russian
investigation had proceeded in full force, it was going on, that you
could have likewise -- two different people were impacted by it -- you
could have likewise been unbiased.

Ms. Page. Absolutely ma'am. And I would note --

Ms. Jackson Lee. Continuously unbiased?

Ms. Page. Unquestionably. I would note, too, in the inspector
general r'eport, that it specifically highlighted in multiple places
that Pete and I, in particular, were consistently the most -- advocating
most aggressively to take the most aggressive steps with respectto
certain investigative steps with respect to Secretary Clinton.

Ms. Jackson Lee. In your' time at the FBI and Justice Department,
have you seen evidence of anybody applying political bias in the
investigation of any subject matter'?

Ms. Page. I have.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And in what instance?

Ms. Page. I'm aware of senior, executives telling people on the
Clinton team who are anti-Clinton that they had to get her, that they
were counting on us to get her.

Ms. Jeffress. Can you clarify whether it was the senior
investigator --

Ms. Page. I'm sorry.

Ms.Jeffress. Theseniorexecutiveswhowereanti-Clintonorthe
people they were talking to.

Ms. Page. No, no.

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So I am aware of senior' FBI officials talking to subordinate FBI
officials on the Hillary Clinton investigative team who unquestionably
had anti-Hillary sentiment, but who also said: You have to get her
or -- again, I don't have an exact quote -- but like we're counting
on you, you know.

Ms. Jackson Lee. How would you respond to that? How would an
investigator respond to that? That's their, superior.

Ms. Page. My guess is they just probably parried and said: Just
follow the facts, ma'am/sir. It's a challenging place to be put in,
I would say.

Ms. Kim; I'm sorry, I just want to clarity.

The people with the bias, were they the senior' executives or were
they the people on the investigative team?

Ms. Page. Sorry. They were the senior, executives.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Okay. Do you have their, names?

Ms. Page. I do.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And what are they?

Ms. Page. My understanding, and I was never' a personal witness
to this, but this is what I've been told, was that at varioustimes
Sandy Kable (ph), who was an early executive on the case, as well as
Randy Coleman, who at one point was the AD of the Counterintelligence
Division, had both made comments to that effect.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.

Let me move quickly to the Russian investigation. And thankyou

very much for your' patience.

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And thank you, staff.

I Just have some quick places that I wanted to finish at.

Let me indicate that in a Wall Street Journal article -- and, of
course, it has been many places, but that's what I'm holding night
now -- these ace texts that might have been sent to you or were sent
to you. And, of course, it's the F the cheating MF Russians -- he text
in late July -- b-a-s-t-a-r-d-s, I hate them. That is from Peter,
Strzok.

Do you remember receiving that?

Ms. Page. Vaguely, yes.

Ms. Jackson Lee. What would you -- how would you explain that?

Ms. Page. The Russians are quite possibly our most threatening,
most hostile, most fierce, and successful foreign adversary. This is
a government that assassinates Journalists and human rights activists
and political dissidents and a government which has been humiliated
by the success of America around the world, and whose singular objective
is to weaken the Western alliance and to do so by cheating and stealing
and lying and corruption, and to do so so as to regain pr'ominence on
the world stage. And so I really hate the Russians.

Ms. Jackson Lee. So a Further one that said: F'ing, conniving,
cheating savages at statecrsaft, athletics, you name it. I'm gladI'm
on Team USA. That captures --

Ms. Page. That's it.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And would that motivate any bias in the

investigation of a par'ticular' issue dealing with the Russians?

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Ms. Page. No. As I sort of said ear'lier', we dislike a lot of
the folks that we look at. And so while saying that I'm biased against
Russia would sort of be funny, the question is ultimately, do you follow
the rules? Does your' feeling, does your' sort of personal sentiment,
ultimately impact the activities and the actions that you take. That,
to me, is what a bias is.

Ms. Jackson Lee. I'm going to go quickly through these
questions. Thank you.

We now know the Russian investigation began before the election,
in July of 2016, but no news of that investigation regarding President
Trump's campaign leaked out to the press. Were you aware of this
investigation before the election?

Ms. Page. Yes, of course.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Did you leak that there was such an
investigation?

Ms. Page. I did not.

Ms.JacksonLee. Approximate1yhooanyFBrofficiia1swer'eauar'e
of this investigation before the election?

Ms. Page. Oh, gosh, employees, sort of writ large, that's a very
hand thing to say, because I don't know really the size of the team.
But 30, 40.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And with those 30 or 49, did any leak come out
before the election regarding the Russian investigation?

Ms. Page. Not my knowledge.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Would you attribute that to the rules of

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protocol, but also the oath and the behavior of FBI agents?

Ms. Page. Both of those things, ma'am, but also a sense of
fairness, because we did not know what we had. And it would have been
highly inappropriate to -- while we all had had and still have
incredibly damning information which could have been released, even
without having the full picture, right, bits and pieces without the
full context could certainly have been damning, but that's not fair.
And that's not how the FBI operates.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Ape you aware of any FBI officials leaking
information about this investigation before the election?

Ms. Page. Not to my knowledge.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Did you make any disclosures about this
investigation to the press or" the public before election day?

Ms. Page. No, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Why not?

Ms. Page. For the reasons I just said. It's bothimpermissible
and would be patently unfair.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.

How do you think a disclosure to the press or to the public would
have impacted Donald Trump's electoral prospects?

Ms. Page. That's not mine to speculate on, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Well, on the basis of the information,wou1d
it have been damaging? Would have it have been major?

Ms. Page. I would -- yes, I would suspect so.

Ms. Jackson Lee. If someone at the FBI was trying to stop Donald

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Trump from being elected President, yourself or Mr. Strzok or others,
do you think they could have publicly disclosed that his campaign was
under, investigation for, potentially colluding with Russian Government
actors?

Ms. Page. That's what you would think.

Ms. Jackson Lee. You're saying yes?

Ms. Page. Yes, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. But to your' knowledge, no one at the FBI did
disclose this fact publicly, correct?

Ms. Page. No, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Would you consider, this strong evidencethat
there was not a deep state conspiracy at the FBI to stop Donald Trump
from being selected -- elected?

Ms. Page. Yes, ma'am. That and the fact that this is an
extraordinary conservative organization. So the notion that there's
a deep state conspiracy about anything is laughable.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Okay. Let me give you two more. Any -- and
stnongevidencethatyouperssona11ywer'enottryingtostopDonaldTr'ump
from being elected President? You were not personally --

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. I didn't understand the question.

Ms. Jackson Lee. You were not personally trying to stop Donald
Trump from being President?

Ms. Page. Oh, no.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Okay. So I would just match that with the

actions of Director Comey in the fall of announcing that new operations

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or new investigations for, Mrs. Clinton. Do you see how they're
juxtaposed together? Would you -- could you make the same argument
there with that statement of Mr. Corey?

Ms. Page. I certainly understand that perception, you know. I
happen to know Director Comey quite well. 'I have been in innumerable
meetings with him over the course of my career. He's not apolitical
person. There is absolutely not any doubt in my mind at all that his
decision, whether you agree with it or' not, was not done for, political
purposes, but was done because he felt that that was what he was
obligated to do in light of his earlier statement closing the
investigation so publicly.

Ms. Jackson Lee. Okay. And finally, did you remember the
Director Comey decision to disclose in March 2017 the existence of an
investigation into the Trump campaign? Do you remember that?

Ms. Page. Yes.

Ms. Jackson Lee. And do you know what led him to do so?

Ms. Page. I don't remember exactly. My recollection is that
there were already -- there were lots of articles at this point about
the Russian investigation, if I'm not mistaken. So it was
increasingly -- there was sort of increasing attention in the news that
there was a -- some sort of Russian collusion investigation going on.

And I can't really remember -- if there was a precipitating
factor, I don't remember what it was. But I do know that we obviously
went to the Justice Department. Dana Boente, current FBI general

counsel, was, of course, the acting DAG at the time, and the decision

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to do so was done in consultation with and with the permission of the
Justice Department.

Ms. Jackson Lee. I know that there will be further questions
pursuing this. Thank you so very much for, your' questions.

Ms. Page. You're welcome, ma'am.

Ms. Jackson Lee. I yield. Thank you.

Mr. Raskin. Ms. Page, when did you Join the FBI?

Ms. Page. In 2012, September, or October'. I can't really
remember right now.

Mr. Raskin. Before that, you were working where?

Ms. Page. I was a prosecutor at the Justice Department.

Mr. Raskin. Got you.

when did you became special counsel to the Andrew McCabe, the
Deputy Director?

Ms. Page. Well, I was his special counsel first when he was the
executive assistant director over' the National Security Branch. So
that would have been in approximately September of 2014.

He then was promoted to be the assistant director in change of
the Washington field office in -- about a year' later, September 2015.
And so when he became ADIC, I went back to working more line-type cases.

And then when he was promoted, he was promoted to
associate -- associate Deputy Director? -- in, I think, August of '15.
I have my dates wrong, I think. I'm sorry, I think I might be off by
a -- yes, I'm sorry.

He becomes EAD in about July of 2013. I joined his team in

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September' of 2013. He becomes ADIC in September 2014. He becomes ADD
September 2015. And then in February of 2016 he becomes the Deputy
Director and he asks me to join his team as his special counsel.

Mr. Raskin. when were you staffed to the Midyear' Exam
investigation?

Ms. Page. So immediately. The investigation had alreadybeen
ongoing. It had been opened the prior July. Mr. McCabe did not have
any supervisory author'ity over it until he became the Deputy Director.

And so in February of 2016, when he became the Deputy Director,
that's when I started getting substantively involved in the
investigation.

Mr. Raskin. And what was your" Pole?

Ms. Page. So I am his sort of counsel. And so in all things,
both on the Clinton investigation, but in other matters as well, I
served as both a sounding board with respect to, you know, assisting
in his decisionmaking.

I think one of my more valuable contributions, or at least I hope,
was sor't of ensuring that he had the most complete and accurate
information before he made decisions.

One unfortunate downside to the -- at least in my view -- the
hierarchical nature of our organization is that it is -- the
information flow, as it goes up the chain, is only as good as each of
the links in that chain. And so it is sometimes the case, and also
given the fact that our' EADs and our' ADs have such enormous jobs and

they have such an extraordinary amount of responsibility, thatthey

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can't possibly know everything they need to know.

And so I made it my job to know as much as I possibly could about
the things that were going -- that were coming to the deputy so that
I could provide effective counsel.

Mr. Raskin. Were there other, Office of General Counsel attorneys
who reported directly to Director -- Deputy Director McCabe?

Ms. Page. No, sin. Just the general counsel, Jim Baker.

Mr'. Raskin. Got you.

Ms. Page. But no other' line attorneys.

Mr. Raskin. Got you.

Okay. So I wanted to turn to the question of the fact that there
were no leaks about the Trump-Russia investigation before the election.

Were there special steps undertaken to make sure that nothing went
out op was it just the general background?

Ms. Page. No, I would say it's both. I mean, we all understood
the extraordinary sensitivity of this case. And so we ace always
careful, obviously.

Mr. Raskin. Yeah.

Ms. Page.. But we just were more careful. I don't -- I can't say
that -- and perhaps there were, in fact, actual steps that were taken,
although, as I sit here today, I can't think of any.

Mr. Raskin. Yeah.

Ms. Page. We Just made sur'e that people who did not have a need
to know did not know what we were investigating.

Mr. Raskin. So I'm just interested in how you reconciled, either,

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you personally or the office, reconciled taking precautions tomake
sure nothing leaked out about the Russia investigation with the posture
that Director Comey had about the Clinton investigation.

Specifically, the original statements where he went into great
detail discussingthe case and what he viewed as hen moral, if not legal,
culpability.

Ms. Page. So I can't really speak to the latter, question with
respect to sort of the depth of detail that he went into, but what I
can say, I think they ace very different situations.

Secretary Clinton, the fact that Secretary Clinton's
investigation was well-known and very public. That wasn't our doing,
but it was from -- for, quite some time it was known that she was under
investigation.

So the notion that you would not have said anything when the
investigation was closed is foolhardy, because of course the fact that
we were closing it without prosecution is something that I certainly
think she would have wanted to have done and was necessary.

As I said to Ms. Jackson Lee -- and I say this simply because I
have personal knowledge of the discussions and the thinking behind
making the statement -- it was genuinely done in an effort to ensure
the American people that we had been independent and fair.

And I do think that he, and we, probably overestimated the
credibility that we could carry by simply cloaking sort of the FBI
mantle around: We did this, and we're the independent people, and we

don't really care who's in power', and this is why.

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And so I think the depth of his statement was very much meant to
reassure, you know, here is what we did, here Is why we did it, you
know, here is what we found, so that the American people were confident
that this was not a politically motivated investigation one way or the
other', and --

Mr. Raskin. So then were you surprised by the level of political
reaction that --

Ms. Page. I personally was, but I'm not a political person, so
maybe I shouldn't have been.

Mr. Raskin. Well, do you think that then the decision in October'
to go ahead and make another, statement several, I guess, days before
the election was an attempt to compensate for the original decision

to go forward with that --

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Ms. Page.. No, I don't. I think that a couple -- I mean, and these
are Just my personal views, I think there were a couple thingswere
operating.

I do think that the fact that we were going to execute a search
warrant, I do -- this is, again, my view, and I can't speak for
Director' Comey or others, I do think the fact that we were going to
execute a search warrant and that it was going to be executed in
New Yor'k, necessarily played a factor, in the decisionmaking.

We were going to to have less ability to keep it quiet. we were
very good during the Clinton investigation, and we were very good during
Russia, because it was our team. And we had picked the people
purposely. Everybody understood the gravity of the situation. This
is now executing a warrant in a different district and necessarily
relying on a different field office to effectuate that warrant.

And so I do sincerely think there was a concern that the fact of
the execution of the warrant would leak and that without the context
of, again, Director, Comey's explanation, it would be as unfair', if not
more unfair, I can't make that calculation, but it would be as unfair,
to let that stand without further, explanation because then the
speculation could pun wild about what it was, and why, and all of that.

And so I do think that that played a role in his decision to speak,
to do it. Although I would say -- I'm sorry -- if I can say one more
thing, I was not pr'esent for that meeting so I was not personally in
the room during the course of the discussion in which the Director

decided to send a letter, to Congress.

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So this is based on sort of my understanding both of subsequent
meetings and from talking to others on the team.

Ms. Hariharan. Just to quickly clarify, are you
referencing -- when you say another field office and team, the New York
field office?

Ms. Page. Yes. Yes. That's where the Weiner laptop had
originally -- the original warrant had been executed.

Mr. Raskin. Okay. I just have a few questions and then I'm going
to excuse myself.

What kind of decisionmaking authority did you have with the NYE
investigation?

Ms. Page. No decisionmaking authority. None, sip.

Mr. Raskin. Okay. So you were not in charge of scheduling the
witness interviews?

Ms. Page. No, no.

Mr. Raskin. No? Or negotiating immunity agreements.

Ms. Page. I was not in charge of anything.

Mr.Raskin. Okay. Let'ssee,wasthisinvestigationdesignated
as sensitive investigative matter?

Ms. Page. I'm sure that it was.

Mr. Raskin. Well, what is that?

Ms. Page. It just adds additional sort of notice requirements
to the Justice Department, a SIN, as we call it, involves both sort
of, you know -- I can't remember the particular categories. I can't

believe the amount I've forgotten about the FBI already. I can't speak

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to the specific categories, but in gener'al, like, you know, political
cormuption-type case or SIMS.

Mr. Raskin. Did you play a role in designating it as such?

Ms. Page. Oh, no, no, that's Just by policy. It's a perfunctory
thing, to be honest with you. It doesn't really have a lot of meaning.

Mr. Raskin. Okay. And what's a headquarter special?

Ms. Page. That's not actually a thing. It's sort of a loose
term. The difference is that with respect to the Midyear
investigation, it was actually Mark Giuliano, the prior Deputy
Director, decided that he wanted the case pun out of headquarters as
opposed to at a field office, which is where investigations are
typically Pun.

And so it is my understanding that Giuliano and the
then-counterintelligence director, which would have been Randy
Coleman, decided to pun it out of headquarters. In part to keep it
close, I think, and to, you know, it does sort of keep fewerpeople
in the hierarchy out of the investigation. Because when you haveit
in the field office you have whoever is running it, the case agent,
all the way up through their chain, then you cross over' to headquarters
and then you have all the way up the headquarters chain.

Mr. Raskin. You mean it keeps more out of the --

Ms. Page. It keeps more people out of, sort of --

Mr. Raskin. Got you.

Ms. Page. -- the reporting chain.

Mr. Raskin. But, presumably, it would not change any

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investigative decisions --

Ms. Page. It does not. It has no impact on that.

Mr. Raskin. Okay. All r'ight. And was it the FBI's or the DOJ's
decision to designate it an unknown subject? Do you know anything
about that?

Ms. Page. I don't. That would have happened before I was
involved in it at all, because it was opened in 2015. So that would
have been -- it wouldn't have been Pete either'. I don't remember who
was leading it at the time, but I don't know who made that decision.

Mr. Raskin. Got you. What was your involvement briefing senior
DOJ leadership?

Ms. Page. 0n Clinton?

Mr. Raskin. Yeah.

Ms. Page. To my understanding, it never' happened or it only
happened once.

Mr. Raskin. Once with?

Ms. Page. Before I was involved in the investigation. But I
think Director Comey has talked about, I think in heardngs,ear'lier'
on meeting with AG Lynch -- early in the investigation, maybe August
of '15 or' September' of '15 to talk about it, and that's where the sort
of famous, you know, call it a "matter" comes out of.

Buttomyunderstanding,that'sthetmlybr'iefingthateuenoccurs
with r'espect to the Clinton investigation.

Mr. Raskin. Did any political appointee at 00] issue orders on

how to conduct the investigation?

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Ms. Page. I don't know. I suspect so, but, again, this was very
unusual, in the sense that we had almost no contact with the people
who we normally have contact with at the Department.

Mr. Raskin. Yeah. Okay. Let me Just ask you one final
question, which has been troubling me from the beginning about the
search for, evidence of intent. And for'give me because I'm a law
professor by training. And when people are using this phrase here,
they're looking for, evidence of Intent of what?

Ms. Page. To mishandled classified information.

Mr. Raskin. Okay.

Ms. Page. So I think Director Corey, and I don't have his
statement in front of me, but I think does sort of the best jobof,
in his July 5th statement, of distilling the types of mishandling cases
that typically get charged. And sort of in general, you're talking
about either, extraordinary number' of clearly marked classified
documents or somebody who otherwise has a nefarious interest in having
those documents. Like these ace the types of intents that we tend to
look at.

Mr. Raskin. Yeah.

Ms. Page. When somebody, you know inadvertently --

Mr. Raskin. You're looking for, some kind of nefarious or corrupt
intent to hide something?

Ms. Page. Correct, correct.

Mr. Raskin. Okay. So you're not looking for an intent to

violate the law, but you're looking for, an intent to do an act which

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is in violation of the law's centpal command.

Ms. Page. That is correct.

Mr. Raskin. Got you. Okay. Thank you. And I'll turn it back
to the staff now.

Ms. Kin. Thank you so much.

EXAMINATION
BY MS. KIM:

Q Ms. Page, I want to return to something that you Just told
Mr'. Raskin. You said that you suspected that political appointees at
DO] may have issued orders on how to conduct the Midyear investigation?

A I guess that'snot fair. I don't know. I sincerely do not
know what kind of briefing schedule -- so this is what I, this is what
I do know. I do know that at least John Carlin, for, example, who is
a political appointee was kept abreast of the sort of investigative
activity that was going on. And the only reason I know this is because
when there was conflicts between us and DOJ, John might call over'
to -- John Carlin might call over' to Andy McCabe, and sort of make his
team's pitch, and then Andy would, you know, sort of the back and forth
would go on.

So it is clean that John had, was getting some sort of bifing,
but he was not, it was, it never, occurred by the FBI, which is, in my
view, atypical.

Q So are you aware of who Nr'. McCabe's dipect counterpart on
this investigation at DO] was?

A So it would have been John. John Carlin is the person who

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would have most -- he is not necessarily like -- we care about hierarchy
at the FBI, so ..-

Q I understand?

A -- so he is not necessarily, like, on the same level, but to
the extent there were -- when issues came up, it was eitherJohn
Carlin or George Toscas who would have, who would have reached out to
Mr. McCabe.

Q The reason I'm on this point is that numerous witnesses have
confirmed to us that George Toscas, a career pr'osecutor", was in change
of the day-to-day operation of DOO on this investigation. Andthat
Carlin and other, political folks above him had br'iefingscer'tainly,
so they had knowledge but didn't have input In the investigation.

Does that comport with your' knowledge?

A I don't know.

Q So do you have -- put another, way --

A I don't have --

Q Do you have any personal knowledge of John Carlin, Loretta
Lynch, Sally Yates, or' other, political appointees at the D03 issuing
orders on how to conduct the Midyear investigation?

A I have no personal knowledge of that.

Q Thank you.

Ms. Hariharan. Hi. I'm Arya Hariharan. I work for, Ranking
Member, Nadler, of the Judiciary Committee. I Just wanted to quickly
before I hand it back to Janet, quickly followup on two names you

mentioned when Congressman Jackson Lee was speaking.

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Peter, Strzok testified yesterday that the -- or' when did he
testify -- not yesterday.

(Discussion off the record.]

BY MS. HARIHARAN:

Q Peter' Strzok when he met with us for 11 hours on June 27th,
he said that the Midyear investigation had been opened out of the FBI
headquarters by then-Assistant Director Coleman, and I believe at the
time chief of counter, espionage section Sandy Kable. Is that your'
understanding?

A That's my understanding, yes.

Q And so when you mentioned that they had expressed some
anti-Hillary Clinton bias, can you give us a sense of when you heard
that information or who told you?

A Pete told me. But when, I really -- they were no longer in,
I guess, I do not -- yes, I know this for, sure.

_ They were no longer' in a position of authority over' the Clinton
investigation, right, so it was not, to my knowledge -- and I could
be wrong about this -- but it was not while they occupied the roles
of section chief or AD, which makes sense to me, because they no longer'
have any sort of supervision or' authority over' the course of the
investigation.

And so the comment as was told to me was, as I sort of described
already.

Q So just to be clear, when --

A But I don't remember -- I'm sorry -.. but I don't remember

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when they each r'espectively took different Jobs.

Q So just to be clear, when Mr. Coleman and Mr. Kable made those
statements, they were no longer -- they no longer had a supervisory
pole over" the Clinton email investigation?

A To the best of my recollection, yes.

BY MS. KIM:

Q Ms. Page, I would like to turn back to the specific text
messages.

I'm so sorry, actually, let's keep on this Coleman cable point
for, a second.

You said that you have heard it from Pete Strzok, is that right?

A That's correct.

Q Do you remember if Pete Strzok heard it directly from either
Mr. Coleman or Mr. Kable?

A That's my understanding.

Q That he directly heard anti-Hillary Clinton sentiments from
Mr. Kable and Mr. Coleman?

A I believe so, yes.

Q And what was the timeframe in which he heard these comments?

A I don't know. I don't recall at all. I just know it
was -- my belief is that it would have occurred after, both
were -- neither was -- neither, was in a position of authority over' the
investigation any longer.

Q But at this point Mr. Strzok was still involved in the

Midyear investigation, is that correct?

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A Correct. He was, whenever he started, I think August-ish,
August, middle of August of 2015, he stayed on the investigation until
its completion.

Q And during his time on the investigation, he was given
instructions or encouragement from Mr. Kable and Mr. Coleman that the
FBI should, quote, "get hen," "hero' being Hillary Clinton?

A I don't know if I would characterize that as instruction.
I would characterize it as their' sentiment. I don't know.

Q And are you aware of Mr. Kable or Mr. Coleman making similar,
remarks to other investigators of the Midyear team?

A It is possible they could have, to Jon Moffa, but I don't
know.

Q So it is possible that Mr. Moffa was also given this
encouragement by Mr. Kable and Mr. Coleman?

A I don't know. I know that during the course of the
investigation, lots of different people on the team would get messages
of distaste or' dislike of Secretary Clinton. That's just -- who, when,
by whom? I have no idea. But she is not a particularly tge11-liked
figure among some corners. That's sort of a self evident statement,
I suppose.And so, but I don't have any, I don't have any personal
or more detailed information than that.

Q And you earlier, made an observation that the FBI is generally
a politically conservative organization.

Is it your' observation that this political conservativism

manifested itself in distaste or dislike of Secr'etary Clinton at the

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FBI?

A I can't really speculate about that.

Q Okay. What is the basis for, your' understanding that the FBI,
especially headquarters, is a politically conservative place?

A It is just, it is law enforcement. It just, that's just
generally, I mean, I'm speaking in gross generalities, so I'm sort of
uncomfortable treading in this ground night now. But in general,I
think if you had to choose between left leaning or night leaning, the
FBI as an organization is right leaning.

Again, I would stress unquestionably that I do not think that that
impacts our work, night. what we are is apolitical, independent of
the personally-held political views of any of its members. But ifyou
were going to try to categorize it as an institution, it is a law
enforcement organization. It is, generally speaking, more
conservative.

it And what about your' understanding that members of of the
Midyear team were receiving this external input from people not on the
Midyear' exam team that they should be getting hen or they should -

A So I don't want you to make too much of this. This is sort
ofsmacktalk,right. ImeanrespondedtothequestionthatMs.Jackson
Lee asked because that was the truthful answer, if I ever' heard of
anybody in particular exerting sort of bias trying to direct the
investigation. And that is the answer'.

But with respect to sort of the talk that various members of the

team might have sort of gotten or heard or whatever', it is just not,

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again, atypical from investigating a particularly heinous, you know,
child predator, and saying, like, you better crush that guy.

So, I don't want to make too much of it, because I don't want it
taken out of context.

Q Certainly. And I just want to make it clear for, the record
thenyounstaternentaboutthesmackta1kspecifica11yaboutther1idyeat'
case is based on your" general recollection of conversations with your'
colleagues on the Midyear team?

A That's correct.

Q Okay. And in fact, did that smack talk influence the actions
taken by the investigators on the Midyear team?

A No.

Q So in your" opinion there, was no political bias manifest in
the investigative decisions made by the Midyear team?

A This was one of the proudest investigations I've been a pant
of. Everybody worked incredibly hard, incredibly independently,
knowing every step would be sort of -- every investigative step would
be scrutinized. And I can unequivocally say that no bias entered into
any action that was taken. And I think that that's validated by the
inspector' general's report as well.

BY MS. SHEN:

tt Hi. My name is Valerie Shen, and I work for Ranking Member
Cummings, Oversight Committee.

Just one quick followup. So, I believe just earlier you said

that, you confirmed Mr. Strzok's testimony was that Assistant Director

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Coleman and Section Chief Sandy Kable were part of opening the Clinton
email investigation part of Washington headquarter staff, correct?

A That's correct.

Q And we just talked about how in no way would you believe that
that would influence fair investigative decisions, as part of the
official action despite the anti-Clinton sentiments that were
communicated to you, is that correct as well?

A Yes, I think that's right, but can you ask that question
again.

Q Sure. I'll rephrase. So despite being involved in the
opening of the Secretary Clinton's email investigation and having --

A You're speaking of Mr. Coleman and Mr. Kable mm?

Q Mr. Coleman and Mr. Kable.

A Okay.

Q And the -- what was communicated to you as their' anti-Clinton
sentiments that they expressed, you don't believe those sentiments
would have impacted their official actions as part of hen
investigation?

A I don't think so, but I wasn't around in the -- I don't think so
but I was not, I was not there at the beginning of the opening. So I
don't have any personal knowledge of that either.

Q As a general matter, if FBI agents had expressed
anti-sentiments against the target of their, investigation or I guess
the subject of their, investigation, would you view that investigation

as tainted?

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A No, that's the point I keep trying to make, which is, like,
we don't like a lot of the people we investigate. In fact, we mostly
don't like the people we investigate.

We don't like drug dealers. We don't like pedophiles. ble don't
like fraudsters. ble don't like spies. We don't like terrorists. I
mean, we don't like them. Right? We are law enforcement, and so we
mostly think they ace gross and loathesome.

So the fact that in this case this is the, you know, either'
political people as opposed to pedophiles is mostly immaterial. We
don't like people who commit crimes.

Q So, for, example, some are making the allegation that
Mr. Str'zok, as he was part of the initiation of the Russia interference
investigation, which was now been folded into the specialcounsel's
investigation, is your' sentiment the same for that, that MP. Strzok's
participation in the initiation of the special counsel's initial
investigation and despite some of the anti-Trump views that he
expressed on a personal basis should not taint the special counsel's
investigation?

A I have no doubt in my mind. We are all entirely capable of
holding personal political views and putting our duty to be fair, and
to follow the rules above all else. That is what defines the FBI.

Q Thank you.

BY MS. KIM:
Q Thank you. As I previewed earlier, I would like to return to

the text messages that --

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A I love the text messages.

Q -- you discussed with the majority earlier. As a general
*matter, when-you communicate by text, do you generally spend a great
deal of time perfecting your" word choice?

A No. The only thing I really care about is spelling, because
misspellings drive me nuts.

Q So ape they quick ad hoc communications or ace they designed to
be precise communications --

A No.

Q -- into which intent should be read?

A They are quick and ad hoc.

Q Thank you. And to be clear', the inspector' general did
interview you about your' text messages after, that?

A Yes, I was interviewed by the inspector' general eight times
over', like, 36 hours about my text messages and an innumerable number
of other, topics.

Q So his conclusion that, quote, "our review did not find
documentary or' testimonial evidence that these political views
directly affected the specific investigative decisions" unquote, was
based on eight different interviews with you?

A That unquestionably, not just with me, but with virtually
every single person who had any involvement whatsoever in the entice
investigation, and an intense review of the investigative steps we in
fact did take such that they could determine that there was no step

which was as a result of bias.

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Q Excellent. Thank you.

Earlier Mr. Gowdy discussed with you a text message in which you
stated, quote, "he's not ever going to become President, night?
Right." And Mr. Strzok responded, quote, "no, he's not, we'llstop
it."

Do you remember that text?

A I do.

Q what was the context for, your' initial text to Mr. Strzok?

A So it is a week prior'. I was incredibly upset by the
candidate Trump's attack on the Khan family. I thought it
very -- honestly it was very much that, it felt like that could have
been my family.

- This is is a
person who's, you know, very much to me the American dream, right.
Somebody came here, raised their family here, his son volunteered to
serve our country andwas killed. And the notion that they were now
being criticized, not just criticized but, you know, belittled and
demeaned, I was incr'edibly bothered by, honestly.

I myself almost joined the military and instead decided to enter,
public service. And so I was really, really bothered by it. And the
sort of lack of sort of both dignity and decency for a family who had
lost a child, regardless as I have two young kids and I cannot imagine
anythingworse,but1ostachi1dto,youknow,inser'vicetoouPcountry.

And so I was, I was upset. I was quite upset. And so honestly,

I don't have a particular' recollection of the text, but I think he was

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just trying to comfopt me.

Obviously, it is well known that we were in a relationship, and
I think -- I don't remember what particularly prompted the, "he's not
really going to become President." My guess, I think it was late at
night, and so I think my, since there's practically nothing out there
that's not known about me, I read like the news on my phone at night.
And so my guess is that I had read something that sort of bothered me,
and so I sort of shot out this flippant, like, this is not really going
to happen, right?

And that this was Just an attempt to just sort of comfort,
although, it is sort of empty words but.

q I'll note that you said empty words.

Mr. Strzok's text back to you has been interpreted by some as "we,
the FBI, will stop Donald Trump from becoming President."

Can you give me your' read on whether or not that's a plausible
interpretation?

A I mean, that's just not us, number, one, and number two, we
didn't in fact. Right? ble took no steps. We took no effort.

As we've already discussed, I think with the majority, we have
and still have information which would have been damaging, particularly
if the purpose was to insinuate. You don't have to have an actual -- as
is well the case, you don't have to have an actual fact, you have to
have an insinuation. You have to have something suggestive.

So you don't have to pr'ove anything if what you're trying to do

is undermine. And we took absolutely no step to do so.

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Q Thank you. I would also like to turn to the August 15, 2016,
text message that Mr. Strzok sent you. I think it is famously known
as the insurance policy text?

A Oh, okay.

Q Can you explain how you understood Mr. Strzok's analogy to
an insurance policy?

A So it is sort of similar, to the question I was answering for,
Chairman Gowdy. He's making an analogy here so my suggestion is, let's
not, you know, throw the baby out with the bath water', let's sort of
be a little bit more cautious with respect to our investigative steps
because if he's not President, this plays a less of a threat to our'
national security.

And he is saying, no, we have to, you know, do what we have to
do in order to get to the bottom of this because it is like an insurance
policy. There is no actual insurance policy. He is making an analogy.
It is like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before
you're 40.

I have insurance. I don't expect to die any time soon. I hope
that I don't, but I have life insurance. Unlikely. I'm 38, but you
get it in the unlikely event that you die young.

Q So to your' knowledge did Mr. Strzok have an insurance policy to
prevent Donald Trump from becoming President?

A No.

Q In fact, the FBI did have a potent way to affect its electoral

chances by leaking the information out of context that the FBI had

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gathered as part of the investigation, isn't that right?

A That's -- yes.

Q It would have been improper but that was at that time the
FBI's disposal?

A Yes.

Q And to your' knowledge, neither you nor Peter Strzok nor
anyone else in the investigation leaked any of that information?

A Quite the contrary.

Q Thank you.

BY NS. HARIHARAN:

Q All right. So we only have a couole more minutes. I'm going to
try and breeze through this. Some of these will seem kind of basic Just
because it is for, the purpose of getting it clearly on the record.

A Sure.

Q So what is the FBI's policy with r'espect towards agents
commenting publicly about an ongoing criminal investigation?

A So we're not permitted to.

Q And what are some of the possible negative consequences if
that policy is violated?

A I mean, it's one, comes from fundamental fairness, but
certainly during the investigative stage, you might foreclose
investigative possibilities if the subject or' witnesses or others ape
aware of the existence of the investigation.

Q So, I think it is fair to say that you're familiar' with the

IG's report on the FBI's handling of the Clinton investigation and the

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fact that it was highly critical of the Department from departing from
that -- excuse me, of Director Comey from departing from that pr'otoco1
and commenting publicly about an ongoing criminal investigation?

A I am familiar' with it.

Q So if you were to answer similar questions in a manner'
involving an ongoing criminal investigation, you are potentially then,
one, violating the Department of Justice's policy, and would put
yourself at risk for an IG investigation if you were still employed
by the Bureau?

A That's true. Although, I would just sort of distinguish
that when Director Comey spoke it was a closed investigation, so I don't
think the analogy is quite perfect, but I understand your' point.

Q To quickly go back to some of the questions that we heard
earlier, and that have been sort of floating around in both in our
hearings and in other interviews, I want to go back to confidential
human sour'ces.

And when testifying before Congress the FBI Director Nray, he
explained how important protecting confidential human sources ace,
quote, "the day we can't protect human sources is the day the American
people start becoming less safe." End quote. Do you agree with
Director Wray?

A That is it a, yes that is a -- yes.

Q So it's fair to say that when Director Wray was talking about
revealing these sources, it would make America less safe. And I

understand you were not in the counterintelligence division for, that

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long or --

A I've never, been inthe counterintelligence. I'm a lawyer'.

Q Your, general understanding, from working at the FBI, how
dangerous would it be to reveal the identity of a confidential human
source?

A I mean it is just, it is -- I cannot tell you how devastating
it is to all of us, honestly.

Q And so --

A Sources are one of the back bones of our work and it is
exactly -- we tell people come to us with your' secr'ets and we will keep
them secret and safe. And frankly worth noting we have done a
pretty poor' job of doing that and it makes me quite concerned about our'
ability to effectively protect America moving forward.

Q So this would also include perhaps a disclosure of their,
location or --

A To the extent their, location would make the source
identifiable, yes.

Q Or when perhaps they've met with the FBI?

A Yes .

Q Okay. And how does this affect the ability of the FBI to
recruit or retain human sources?

A I mean, as I said, it is incredibly damning. It is a huge
step to decide to come to the FBI and rat on someone else or share secret
or' sensitive or in the case of counterintelligence another country's

secrets, r'ight. I mean, that is an enormous ask that you make of

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another, person. And you do it in part, often not of, you know,
sometimes it is a financial motivation, sometimes it is patriotic,
there are variety of reasons that people choose to become sources but
it's a heavy burden that we ask our sources to take and when we cannot
protect their identities, I could certainly understand people
hesitating before they came back to us.

Q All right. Thanks. I think we're going to go off the record
now. It is 3:56.

[Recess.]

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[3:56 p.m.]

Mr. Ratcliffe. Go back on the record at 3:56. Ms. Page I'm John
Ratcliffe from Texas. We had a chance to meet before the start of your
deposition here. I'm going to go back, try and get back to where
Chairman Gowdy left off. We were talking about July 31st and the
openingoftheRussiacollusioninvestigation. Butbeforethat,Iwant
to cover' a couple of things that I'm not sure anyone has asked.

First of all, I know there was some question about you getting
access to FBI documents that delayed your' appear'ance before our
committee. Have you had access to all the documents you needed at the
FBI?

Ms. Page. I cannot make the representation of all, and I don't
mean any disrespect to my former, FBI colleagues. But I have had access
to documents. It cannot possibly be all of them, but I know they are
trying their best.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. I'm just trying to confirm, on the record
you don't feel like you're impaired in terms of your' ability to answer
questions?

Ms. Page. No, I don't think so. I have cer'tainly not hadthe
opportunity to review all of the ones that they have provided to me,
but to the extent I can't answer, I will tell you.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay, great. Other than your' lawyers, didyou
speak with anyone to prepare for this interview?

Ms. Page. No, sir.

Mr. Ratcliffe. All right. Did you watch Peter, Strzok's

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testimony yesterday?

Ms. Page. Most of it, sip.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Have you reviewed a transcript of Peter, Strzok's
prior testimony?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr.Ratcliffe. whenwasthelasttimeyoutalkedtoPeterStrzok?

Ms. Page. We ran into each other, when I was leaving the FBI on
Tuesday night. He was coming into the FBI. And we were both with our
counsels and were in the sort of vestibule of the FBI where people enter,
and leave. So it was sort of: Hey, how you doing? How do you think?
Gr'eat, you know.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Just a passing meeting?

Ms. Page. Correct.

Mr. Ratcliffe. When was the last time you had a substantive
conversation with him about anything?

Ms. Page. Oh, it's been a very long time.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Can you give me a timeframe? At least a year',
more than a year'?

Ms. Page. A substantive conversation about like the matters
before us?

Mr. Ratcliffe. Yes.

Ms. Page. Yeah.

Mr. Ratcliffe. To the best of your' recollection.

Ms. Page.. Yeah. I don't know. Ayearish, but I'm -- that's --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay, fair enough. I want to go back to one of

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the things you said, and I wrote it down. We were talking about the
Hillary Clinton email investigation, and you said: Everyone at the
FBI and the DOO involved knew far, earlier than July that we were not
going to be able to make the case against hen.

Do you remember saying that?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And you talked about the reason beingthat
there was -- and I don't know if I got this exactly, but you said there
was -- we couldn't find any indicia of knowledge that she knewthat
these shouldn't be traversing her server, evidence of intent, ofan
intent.

Ms. Past, That's mostly r'ight, sir. It's really -- the problem
really is, in a mishandling case, you have to sort of show that malign
intent. And with respect to what she was doing, you know, her
claim -- and was not one that we could ultimately rebut -- is: I didn't
know it was classified; we were trying to execute our job.

You know, when we bring mishandling cases, it's people who ace
often hoarding classified documents, bringing them home when they're
marked, and they know that they shouldn't. Often it's somebodywho
we suspect of spying that we simply can't make out a case of.

And the -- you know, the ability to prove -- like that would
obviously be hen defense. And the ability to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that she, in fact, you know, intended to handle classified
information in a way that was not permissible was just not possible.

Mr.Ratc1iffe. Okay. Andthat's -- Ithink,whenyouta1kabout

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intent, that's certainly true under part of 18 793(f), but it sounds
like you all Just blew over, gross negligence.

Ms. Page. We did not blow over' gross negligence. We, in
fact -- and, in fact, the Director -- because on its face, it did seem
like, well, maybe there's a potential here for, this to be the change.
And we had multiple conversations, multiple conversations with the
Justice Department about charging gross negligence.

And the Justice Department's assessment was that it was both
constitutionally vague, so that they did not actually feel that they
could permissibly bring that charge, and also that it had either never'
been done or had only been done once like 99 years ago. And so they
did not feel that they could sustain a charge.

And, in fact, one thing I will note is that the Director asked
the Department to pull for him a record of every mishandling case that
had been brought in the last like 30 years.

Mr. Ratcliffe. I saw that. I saw a series of emails about that.
But my question, the question I had was: He requested all ofthose
in the June 2016 timeframe. He wrote his memo, what we've referred
to as the exoneration memo, on May 2nd of 2616. So he made the request
to look at the cases to see the cases weeks after he'd already written
a draft ruling out gross negligence.

Ms. Page. That's right. Well, no, no, no. So we should clarify
a couple things. So the cases were about mishandling, not about gross
negligence. So the 30 years back were really about like: Show me the

types of mishandling cases that we do bring.

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So it's true I think the Director had a sense already like, well,
we can't make out garden variety 793(f). And so let me challenge my
own views on this, could you please produce _ like let me seewhat
kinds of cases we brought and sort of the facts that surrounded those
cases. And so that's what that pull was.

Separately, you know, we had multiple conversations with the
Justice Depar'tment about bringing a gross negligence charge. And
that's, as I said, the advice that we got from the Department was that
they did not think -- that it was constitutionally vague and not
sustainable.

Mp. Ratcliffe. Okay. So let me if I can, I know I'm testing your'
memory, but when you say advice you got from the Department, you're
making it sound like it was the Department that told you: You're not
going to charge gross negligence because we're the prosecutors and
we're telling you we're not going to --

Ms. Page. That is correct.

Mr. Ratcliffe. -- bring a case based on that. Who at the
Department was telling you that?

Ms. Page. Richard Laufman is my understanding.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Mr. Parmiter. Sorry, did you mean David Laufman?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. Richard Scott. No, no, that's my fault.

Mr. Parmiter. Thank you.

Ms. Page. Sorry, sorry. Probably David Laufman too, but --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Have you still got those text messages in

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front of you? If you turn to June 30th.

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. Which year', sip?

Mr. Ratcliffe. I'm sorry. June 30, 2616. I'm trying to get
back to July where weleft off. But there was one text messagefrom
Peter, Strzok to you". Just left Bill -- I assume that's referring to
Bill Priestap -- He changed President to another' senior, government
official.

Ms. Page. Yep.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Do you see that?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Ratcliffe. So, obviously, I know you didn't write that text.
It was sent to you, but we've all noticed there were different drafts
of thatexoneration memo. It originally said the President. Then it
said senior'gover'nment official. And then it disappeared altogether.

Tell me what your recollection was about why that was important
to take that out of the -- what ultimately became Jim Comey's July 5th
public statement?

Ms. Page. I don't really recall. I don't remember a lot of
attention spent on this. I think it was Bill's -- would you remind
me what this was in reference to? Was this about --

Mr. Ratcliffe. This was in --

Ms. Page. No, I know that. But I just can't remember what
the -- why Bill was concerned that highlighting the President or senior'
government official was sensitive, and I just -- I don't know if anybody

has the -- if anybody has the July 5th statement.

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Mr. Ratcliffe. I don't know. That's what --

Ms. Page. No, no. If --

Mr. Ratcliffe. That's what I'm trying to find out.

Ms. Page. If we can come back to it, if someone wants to pull
the July 5th statement. I just want to see where it was in the
statement, and that will help I think refresh my recollection.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Fair, enough. we can do that.

All night. So getting back towards the start of the Russia
investigation on July 31st, before that, on July 26th, you sent a text
to Peter, Strzok, July26, 2016. You said: Yeah, it is prettycool,
blank.

It looks like: Blank just has to win now. I'm not going to lie.
I got a flash of nervousness yesterday about Trump.

I assume that that's -- you're referring to Clinton has to win
now.

Ms. Page. I'm sure that's night, but I just haven't found it yet.
I'm sorry. July 26, you said? July. I'm in June, I'm sorry.

Mr. Ratcliffe. July 26, 2016.

Ms. Page. Do you have a page number that might get me to it
fasten? Like the DOJ production number', I don't know if you have it.

Mr. Ratcliffe. I don't. I have a summary of it.

Ms. Page. That's okay. Amy, can you help me find this? The
"now she just has to win." I'm literally notseeing it. Yeah, itis
pretty cool.

Mr. Ratcliffe. July 26.

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Ms. Page. Oh, Ifound it. I'm sorry. 0h, minesays 27th. I'm
sorry. That's why.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Well, it may be the 27th.

Ms. Page. No, no, no. I don't -- that's fine.

Mr. Ratcliffe. what is the context of that, if you can recall?

Ms. Page. So I just take from the context here, we are watching
Secretary Clinton receive the nomination.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page.. He is -- I know he was sharing it with -
- And so it was I think sort of a particularly momentous
moment that a woman was being nominated.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And I'm just -- I Mean, I don't think it's
any big secret. I'm trying to -- and I think you've made it clean.
I mean, you wanted Hillary Clinton to win and nervousness about Donald
Trump. You're not a fan of Donald Trump.

Ms. Page. That's true, except that I'm not really a fan of
Hillary Clinton's either. Given -- truthfully. I mean, given a
Trump-Clinton Pace, yes, I was supporting Clinton, but I was not a
par'ticular'ly big fan of hens.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So the response from Peter Strzok to your"
text is: We've got to get the memo and brief and case filing done.

Ms. Page. Uh-huh.

Mr. Ratcliffe. What does that relate to? what memo, what brief,
what case filing?

Ms. Page. So I think that the memo is a reference to we -- we

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in the Department decided to write a closing LHM is what we call it,
a letterhead memorandum.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Right, a summary of 3025.

Ms. Page. A summary of essentially the investigation. So,
typically, when you close an investigation, you would do some sort of
summary document.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page. But because this one was actually quite complicated
from a forensic standpoint, you know, we had done an extraordinary
amount of forensic investigation. And so we wanted to sort of put in
one place: Here is what we did in -- you know, in an exhaustive way.
And so it was a -- and we also wanted to be -- we wanted it to be like
as erron-free as humanly possible, because we understood that the case
would get scrutinized. And so the -- I'm not sure what the brief is,
to be honest with you. Oh. I'm not really positive. But the memo
and -- I don't see the text, but was it memo, brief, and what?

Mr. Ratcliffe. I'm sorry. The case filing.

Ms. Page. Oh. I think that's Just like closing it up. Like
closing up the file. Like getting all those sort of i's dotted and
t's crossed. But the memo I think is a reference to the LHM.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. The date of this was July 26, July 27.
It's also -- as we've talked about, this is night in the timeframe
where you --

Ms. Page. We don't know about it yet.

Mr. Ratcliffe. The opening of the Russia investigation. You

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don't know about it yet, because the date that you know about it is
July 28.

Ms. Page. I think the 28th, correct.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Right. Okay. So that being the case, look at
the text right before that on July M. There's a series of texts,
actually, between you and Peter, Strzok where you talk about FISA Judge
Contreras and the fact that he would have to recuse himself on espionage
FISA cases, given his, quote, "his friend oversees them," end quote.
what was the context of how that came up?

Ms. Page. I mean, that was just -- I didn't - I knew that he
had -- had been friends with Judge Contreras for, some time. I didn't
know that he was a FISC Judge. I just knew that he was a judge on the
D.C. District Court. And I had been on Wikipedia to sort of look for,
FISC judges for, some reason, I don't remember why. And I saw him. And
so -- although I don't have the text in front of me, but that I'm sort
of exclaiming like, oh, I didn't know Rudy was a Judge, right, or was
on the FISC. And he said yeah. And I just thought like it would be
neat to meet him because he -- I wanted to know his friends, he wanted
to know mine. I mean, it was really more of a personal interest.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page. And, again, I don't have it in front of me, but my
recollection is I asked like: Well, does he know what you do?

And he said: Well, he knows like I'm an agent, but I'm not sure
that he has sort of detailed knowledge about the sort of types of work

I do.

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And he expr'essed his concern that it would be inappropriate to
know what he did because of the potential risk that a matter' that Pete
was supervising or for a matter for which he was seeking a FISA --

I mean, I should be mohe precise. In the position that Pete held,
he actually doesn't really have any role at all in the FISA process,
so -- but he would be supervising investigations for which a FISA might
be sought.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page. And so his point was simply, you know, would this cause
him to have to recuse if there was a matter on which I was on. And,
again, you see me saying, I don't actually think so, but it was really
Just --

Mn.Ratcliffe. Okay. Soisityourtestimonythatthisexchange
was not related to or' prompted by a discussion about any potential FISA
relating to the Russia investigation?

Ms. Page. Oh, no, no.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So that gets me back to where Chairman
Gowdy left off onJuly 3lst. And I want you to look at the text that
Peter Strzok sent to you that says, quote: And damn, this feels
momentous because this matters. The other, one did too, but that was
to ensure we didn't F something up. This matters because this MATTERS,
in all caps, period. So super" glad to be on this voyage with you, end
quote. Do you see that?

Ms. Page. I do.

Mr. Ratcliffe. What do you recall about when you received that

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and --

Ms. Page. So this is -- we are now opening the Russia collusion
investigation. And I agree wholly with the sentiment, to behonest
with you. The Clinton investigation was whether she mishandled
classified information. That's important. It matters, but it does
not matter like a per'son associated with a Presidential campaign
receiving and potentially accepting, which we didn't know, obviously,
but the risk that somebody had received and accepted an offer, of
assistance from Russia, which I view as our' sort of most treacherous
adversary. So this one was a more significant, mor'e concerning
investigation and unquestionably one which was more threatening to our
national security.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And I thought I heard you earlier, I
thought I heard you say, in talking about this being on a Sunday, that
it had just happened, and you were stressed.

Ms. Page. I think all of us were -- yes, I can -- I can
confidently say that the very small group of us who knew about the
predication were all very concerned.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So, as I read this, though, and I realize
this is Peter, Strzok, but when he says this matters because this
matters, so super' glad to be on this voyage with you, it doesn't sound
like he's stressed. It sounds like he's happy. If you're super' glad,
he sounds like he's happy.

Ms. Page. That's a personal comment, sir.

Mr. Ratcliffe. What's that?

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Ms. Page. That's a personal comment.

Mr. Ratcliffe. I don't know what you mean. Explain that to me.

Ms. Page. That's a reflection that, okay, the Midyear
investigation is over, right. So he's going back to kind of his day
Job. I'm going back to my day job. And now we have a new
investigation, which will necessarily involve regular contact.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So a week later, on August 6th, you texted
Agent Strzok about the candidate Trump's criticism of the Khans, and
you stated: Jesus, you should read this, and Trump should goF himself.

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And his r'esponsetothat was something and
F Trump.

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. That same day, you sent a text to Peter'
Strzok that says: So this is not to take away from the unfairness of
it all, but we ape both deeply fortunate people and maybe you're meant

to stay where you ape because you're meant to protect the country from

that menace.
Do you find that?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. Is it on the 8th too? Yes, I see it.

Mr. Ratcliffe. 0n the 6th.

Ms. Page. Yes, I see it. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I'm sorry.

Yes, I see it.
Mr. Ratcliffe. So, when you said, “Maybe you're meant to stay

where you ape because you're meant to protect the country fromthat

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menace," who is that menace?

Ms. Page. The menace is Donald Trump.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And so, if you're telling Peter' Strzok
that he's meant to protect the country from Donald Trump, who is a
menace --

Ms. Page. Although --

Mr. Ratcliffe. I don't know how to read that other, than you --

Ms. Page. No, no, no. Well, I think that it is, but I think it's
in the context of -- well, I'm not certain, to be honest with you. I
think it's Donald Trump. But the reason I'm hesitating is because this
is so close in time to the opening of the Russia investigationthat
the concern that we all had that there was a member of his campaign
colluding with Russia was so great that I'm not -- I'm not 109 percent
positive that I can split those --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Well, I'll tell you why it's really important,
because you're right; it is so close to the opening of the Russia
investigation. And so, if a week after, the Russia investigationis
open, you and Agent Strzok are talking about protecting the country
from a menace, if you're meaning it's Donald Trump, I don't know how
to read that other, than you have prejudged him.

Ms. Page. So you ace misunderstanding, sir. I have -- at the
time that we opened the investigation, I don't have any reason to

believe that it is Donald Trump himself who was colluding with the

Russians. -_

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TherewasabsolutelynopreconceivedbelieForfeelingatallthat
it was Donald Trump himself. We took quite deliberate steps, and we
were very Judicious in deciding who we would open on and what criteria
we would use in order, to open those investigations in order, to determine
who might have been in a position to receive this offer, if it was even
true.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. But I'm not
trying to put words inyour' mouth. These are your' words, and so I'm
asking you what they mean because this is really important. And the
way I read this is an FBI lawyer' a week after, this case is opened is
saying you, speaking to the FBI agent who is the lead investigator in
this nascent investigation, you are meant to protect the country from
that menace. And the only way an FBI agent can protect the country
from a menace who is a Presidential candidate is to ensure that he
doesn't become the President.

Ms. Page. I can understand the reading of that, sir. But what
I am trying to tell you is that there is -- it is -- I understand that
"menace" is a very loaded word, but this is a sort of singular flash
in time.

I think the other, thing that's important to understand is the
meant to stay where you are is because he was considering putting in

'For another, job. And so this is really in the context of a conversation

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we had for days or weeks about whether, to seek a promotion to another'
job versus to sort of stay where he is. And the -- can I -- may I ..-

Mr. Ratcliffe. Yeah, sure you can.

Ms. Page. And the truth of the matter, is, and I am quite confident
that people who have worked counterintelligence would say this, Peter,
Strzok is the best counterintelligence agent in the FBI, certainly in
a position of management.

Andsothenotionthathewouldtakeadifferentpositionandleave
open a management position which would necessarily be filled by
somebody less qualified is also reflected in that.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Are you finished?

Ms. Eagg; I am.

Mr. Ratcliffe. I didn't want to cut you off. I appreciate the
context for the part about whether, he's meant to stay where you are.
I'm more concerned about you're meant to protect the country from that
menace that you believe is Donald Trump, especially when it's followed
up with the next text that you send to him on August 8th, Trump's not
ever' going to become President, night, right, to which he has r'esponded,
no, no, he's not, we'll stop it.

So you're meant to protect the country from the menace of Donald
Trump. He's not going to become the President, right? No, we'll stop
it.

And these texts are being exchanged with the lead investigative
agent a week after, he has opened the investigation into the Russia

collusion matter'.

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Ms. Page. I completelyunderstand that. I will say sort of two
things in response. The first is I know this person very well. And
so, while I completely understand how, after the fact and with the
little snippets that a text message represent, I understand wholly why
you and others would interpret it that way. I sincer'ely do. But I
know this person, and I know myself, and I know the sort of integrity
and the investigative quality that we both bring to work. And that
is ultimately what that represents.

And then certainly with respect to the "he's not going to become
President, right,“ I don't know whether you were here when I was
discussing it with the minority staff. But I was very deeply affected
by the -- by the harshness and the cruelty that I felt that Donald Trump
exhibited towardthe Khans. I felt like it was there but for the grace
of God go we. I am an immigr'ant -- -
- the same as the Khans ace. I very seriously considered
joining the military before I decided to enter public service. And
I was unbelievably appalled that anyone, let alone a Presidential
candidate, would insult the family of a slain servicemember. It's
inappropriate, andit's disgusting. And it remained with me for, quite
some time.

And so, yes, I sent the, you know -- and, again, I don't know
whether, -- as I said earlier, before I fall asleep, I sort of read;
it's when I catch up on the news. And so my strong suspicion is that
I was on my phone; I read something about it. I was upset and bothered,

and so I made the "he's not really going to become President, night"

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and "no, we'll stop it" was simply an attempt to comfort me.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Well, I can appreciate the emotion and
opinion that you have regarding that event. I'm sure a lot of people
in the country may have felt that way, but those people were not in
a position to influence the outcome of an investigation. There was
only one lead investigator, in the country on this investigation, and
the way this reads, you asked him whether or not -- well, you asked:
Donald Trump's not ever' going to become President, right?

And he responds: No, no, he's not, we'll stop it.

That sounds like a promise from someone who's in a position to
keep a promise.

Ms. Page. And it's not. And I completely understand the
interpretation, but I would also, frankly, point you to the fact that
not a single action was taken that would evidence that weattempted
to stop it. There was no leak of the investigation. As I've said
multiple times, we had then and continue to have information which
certainly would have been damaging, and particularly so during the
Pun-up of a Presidential election. That's just not who we ace.

And I understand that perhaps for, people whose job is politics,
it strains credulity that you would not be dominated or motivated by
politics, but we are dominated and motivated by fidelity to our
institution. And that is the FBI, and we do things the right way at
the FBI.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Well, and I appreciate the explanation, and I

hope you can appreciate the job that we all have, which is to ask you

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about the things that you said and the things that he said, and that
you ape two people at the center' of a very important investigation that,
unlike the Pest of the country, were not in a position to influence
the.outcome.

Ms. Page. I do understand that, sip. But honestly, having a
view, even a strongly held view, even a virulent view as to who would
be best President does not mean that it makes me -- does not mean or
make me biased in my work.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Let me move on to a text message on September 2nd
of 2016. It's a series of texts that you exchanged with Agent Strzok.
And at one point you text him: Yes, because POTUS wants to know
everything we ape doing.

Ms. Page. Oh, yeah. I don't see where it is, but I know what
it is, yeah.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. And do you know the context of what it is?

Ms. Page. It is. This is in the context of --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Well, first of all, so is POTUS, I'm assuming
that's --

Ms. Page. President Obama.

Mr. Ratcliffe. -- President Obama, okay.

Ms. Page. Yes. So this is in the context of the -- take a step
back. In August -- oh, this is going to call for a classified answer'.
I'm sorry. Can we --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Do you need to confer?

Ms. Page. I don't think this is a classified space.

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Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page. Sorry.

Mr. Ratcliffe. It's not.

Ms. Page. I think I can answer' it.

Mr. Ratcliffe. I'm Just trying to clarify --

Ms. Page. It's not about the Midyear investigation, if that's
the question. It has to do with Russia. ‘It does not have to do with
the Clinton investigation at all.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. It does have to do with Russia, the Russia
investigation?

Ms. Page. No, not theRussia investigation. It has to do with
the broader look at Russian active measures.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. All right.

All night. Let me move ahead to May 18th of 2017, which is, to
put it in context, is either the day of or the day after' Bob Mueller
has been appointed special counsel.

Ms. Page. The day after, sir.

Mr. Ratcliffe. The day after. And Peter Strzok texted you and
said, quote: For me and this case, I personally have a sense of
unfinished business. I unleashed it with the NYE. Now I need to fix

it and finish it.

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Ms. Page. I don't have it in this set. Can I -- sorry, I don't
know why, but -- maybe I do. Nay 18th you said, night? Can I have
one second, please?

Sorry about that.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Did you find it?

Ms. Page. I did, yes.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. what is your recollection of the context
of you receiving that text message?

Ms. Page. So it was -- I had been asked to join the Mueller, team
by that point, and he was probably the -- one of the likely candidates
to join, to the extent he would bring sort of all the institutional
knowledge of the investigation to date.

By the same token, my view was, if you are going to rise in the
organization, you need to stay where you are and do your time. So the
FBI is very hierarchical and very sort of box checky with respect to
promotion. And that we had had, again, many conversations discussing
whether he should join the team or whether, he should sort of stay in
place and then seek the next promotion.

And so the sort of -- there's a great deal of texts which sort
of precede it, because I was also quite -- I was hesitant to join. In
fact, I initially said that I did not want to join the team.

And so this is sort of one of the many reasons I think neflected
in these texts about whether or not to Join the team. And I dothink
that he felt -- we all felt a great deal of concern that when the

director sent the October, statements -- not the statement, the October,

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letters in the Hillary Clinton case, that we had affected the election.

And it's not because of who won or' who didn't win, but because
that is like the worst possible place for, the FBI to be in. And I know
all of my friends on the team, all the people that I talked to really
continued to carry a lot of -- trauma is too strong a word. I can't
really think of a better one right now. But Just a lot of weight about
whether, we actually impacted an American election.

And so that is really what I think this is a reflection of. He
very much participated -- you know, he participated in the decision
to send the letter, to Congress about the reopening of the Midyear
investigation. And so I think that this is sort of a reflection of
like just that.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Nell, given the timing of it, though, the
start of appointment of a special _..-

Ms. Page. Right. But that's because of the opportunity to
essentially -- had Director Comey never been fired and a special
counsel not been necessitated, he would have stayed as DAD in the
Counterintelligence Division. He would have done it for, another,
whatever, 6, 8, 10 months. He would have been eligible to be, you know,
promoted to an SAC somewhere, and then he would have gone on his merry
way.

The problem is, with the appointment of special counsel, now there
is a new sort of job opportunity which is not career-enhancing, because
it doesn't matter if it's high-profile or if it's like interesting,

the FBI cares about box checks. So you do all you want on some special

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project, if you have not done sufficient time in this box, the
likelihood of you getting promoted is quite slim.

And so the only reason that, you know, he's confronted by this
choice and the timing of the choice is because the director has been
fired and DAG Rosenstein has appointed Bob Mueller, as special counsel.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. But, again, and I realize these aren't
your' words. I'm asking you, though, if you have any knowledge.
It's --giventhetimingandthatBobNue1lePhasbeenappointedspecial
counsel and given the context that you've given that you thought that
you may have affected the outcome, when Peter Strzok says, now I need
to fix it and finish it, a person r'eading it might come to the conclusion
thefixitmeansfixtheoutcome,changetheoutcome,stopDonaldTr'ump,
finish it.

Ms. Page. I understand that. I don't have a better, -- I don't
have a better, explanation than the one I've given.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So that same day in the consideration of
this, he texts you and says: "You and I both know the odds are nothing.
If I thought it was likely, I'd be there, no question. Thesitate,
inpar't,becauseofrygutsenseandconcermthepe'snobigther'ethePe.'
what's he talking about?

Ms. Page. So I think this represents that even as fan as May of
2017, we still couldn't answer' the question -- sorry. Can I consult
with counsel? I'm sorry, I need to consult with FBI counsel for a
moment.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

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[Discussion off the r'ecor'd.)

Mr. Ratcliffe. You said you still couldn't answer' the question.

Ms. Page. So, yeah, I'm going to have to like rephrase my answer'
a little bit. It's a reflection of -- and I'm sorry, I'm not trying
to be cagey. I'm just trying to stay within the confines that I've
been given.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Well, let me ask you this: Do you knowwhether
or not Peter, Strzok was talking about the fact that, as the lead
investigator' of the Trump-Russia investigation, he didn't know -- or
that he knew that the odds were nothing and that he had a concern that
there was no big there there regarding any collusion between Trump
and --

Ms. Page. No, I don't think so. I think it's a reflectionof
us still not knowing. I guess that's as good as I can answer'. That
it still existed, because we were -- it was still an active
investigation. Itstillexistedinthescopeofpossibilitythatthere
would be literally nothing, probably not nothing nothing, as we
probably knew more than that by that point.

But in the scheme of the possible outcomes, the most serious one
obviously being crimes serious enough to warrant impeachment; but on
the other' scale that, you know, maybe an unwitting person was, in fact,
involved in the release of information, but it didn't ultimately touch
any senior, you know, people in the administration or on the campaign.

And so the text just sort of reflects that spectrum. And I think

the sort of unfinished business to me really just reflects whoPete

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is, which is he's a leader'. He cares about Russia in particular, it
has in many ways dominated his career, and wanted to finish out the
investigation, whatever the outcome.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Nell, based on that answer', though, it does sound
like, as the lead investigator, you took it to mean he was saying the
odds are nothing and, as the best counterintelligence agent, hehad
a gut sense and concern that there's no big there there.

Ms. Page. I'm sorry, what's the question?

Mr. Ratcliffe. With respect to any collusion between the Trump
campaign and Russia.

Ms. Page. Right. And so he is the best investigator. So if
someone is going to find it, it's going to be him.

Mr. Ratcliffe. But at that point --

Ms. Page. That's not out of animus; that's out of I hate Russia.

Mr. Ratcliffe. But at least at that point, he had a concern that
there wasn't anything there.

Ms. Page. I mean, we -- it was -- I'm sorry, I'm not supposed
to talk about the sufficiency of evidence, so that's why I am weighing
my words carefully.

Let me do it this way: Investigations ar'efluid, night? And so
at various times leads ace promising and leads fade away. And so I
can't -- I can't answer more his sentiment with respect to this
particular text, but certainly at this point the case had been ongoing.
We didn't have an answer'. That's obvious. And I think we all sort

of went back and forth about like what -- what the answer' was really

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going to be.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. But in describing those terms, the lead
agent said he had a gut sense and concern, a concern that there's no
there there, a concern that I'm not going to find anything.

Ms. Page. Right. But that's --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Did he want to find something?

Ms. Page. No, no, no. That speaks to -- again, this is all in
the context of do I stay or do I go, night? And so if this is going
to fizzle out and be a nothing, then I shouldn't sort of sacrifice my
sort of long-term career prospects. If it's going to end in
impeachment, that's kind of a big deal. I mean, put aside who it is,
put aside how we feel about it. You know, that's monumental. People
who ace on Watergate are still known as somebody who was on Watergate.

And so that's not sort of taken with respect to the, you know,
feelings about Donald Trump. It's about being on an unbelievably kick
ass team and being a part of, you know, something impressive. Sorry.
I probably shouldn't have --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Four, days later', another series of text messages
are exchanged, and at one point Peter Strzok responded to a text from
you and said: God, I suddenly want on this, you know why.

Ms. Page. Oh, lord. If you're asking me why, I have no idea.
I'm sorry. We talked about this for, days on end. So I really couldn't
tell you what he was thinking in that particular moment.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay.

Ms. Page. Is there more context there? I don't ...-

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Mr. Ratcliffe. No, I don't. I'm just asking you. It sounds
like he's saying, you know why I suddenly want on the Mueller,
investigation.

Ms. Page. I'm sure 18 months ago I did, but I have no idea night
now.

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. One last question. What was
the -- obviously, you left the Mueller, investigation team at some point
in time. Give me the circumstances about why.

Ms. Page. Sure. I -- so I participated in the first briefing
for, Bob Mueller upon sort of giving him an overview of like here's what
we got. And at the end of the briefing, he went to Mr. McCabe, who
at the time was the acting director, and said, who was that woman? And
he said, that's Lisa, she works for, me. And he said, I want heron
the team. And Andy said, okay.

And so he came to me and said, Bob wants you to join the team.
And I said, I don't want to. And he said, well, you don't say no to
Bob Mueller. And I said, you know, one, Andy was acting director and
so I wanted to sort of stay by his side; and, two, I have young children
at home and the prior sort of 18 months working for Andy were the most
fulfilling of my professional career, they were unbelievably
demanding. And I --

Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. So -- and these text messages -- so the
point I'm really trying to get at, the text messages had not become
public.

Ms. Page. No, no, no. I'm -- 36 seconds, I'mgoing to get there.

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Mr. Ratcliffe. You bet.

Ms. Page.. So I was very hesitant to join the Mueller, team,
because I had already worked two incredibly demanding years with Andy
and I wanted a life back and I wanted to parent and be home and be around.
And so I went to Bob Mueller, to talk to him about it. And so, asa
compromise, I offered a 45-day detail.

And so I joined his team for' 45 days to sort of help them stand
it up, with the understanding that he wanted me, he wanted me full time.
He -- he, you know, thought I had something to add. But at the end
of the 45 days, I just -- you know, I just -- despite, you know, it
being an impressive crew that he assembled, wanted a life back.

Mr'. Ratcliffe. Thank you.

Mr. Jordan. Thank you, John.

Ms. Page, I just want to understand some basics. Did you report
directly to Mr'. McCabe or did you report to Jim Baker and then had some
kind of special arrangement? How did it work?

Ms. Page.. I reported directly to Mr. McCabe. I stayed in close
touch with Jim Baker. I mean, we worked together very, very closely,
but I would say I considered --

Mr. Jordan. Was it aspecial arrangement? I mean, you'r‘epar't
of the general counsel, part of the FBI General Counsel Office, but
it was a special arrangement where you worked directly for, MP. McCabe?

Ms. Page._ Essentially, yes. I -- in the minority testimony, I
had worked for, Mr. McCabe when he was the Executive Assistant Director,

for, the National Security Branch. So when he took that job on, it was

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shortly after' the Snowden disclosures. Things were crazy busy, in
terms of intelligence community reforms. And so he asked me at that
time -- this is in September of 2013. He asked me to sort of join
his -- his staff as counsel to kind of help support him through that,
because it really fell in his bucket.

And so it was already an arrangement that we had had before. And
so when Andy -- when Mr. McCabe became Deputy Director in February of
2016, he asked me to sort of Join in the same kind of arrangement that
we had had previously.

Mr. Jordan. And did that mean that your' actual physical office
was somewhere different from where the normal FBI General Counsel
Office was?

Ms. Page. That is correct. It moved a jillion times, just
because of the way space moves, but ultimately yes.

Mr. Jordan. Did you provide any information to r'epor'ter's,
journalists, or' media personalities about anything related to the
Trump-Russia investigation --

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. -- in 2616, 2017, or 2018?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. Did you ever' interact with the press?

Ms. Page. InmyofticialcapacityattheFBI? Acoupleoftimes,
yes.

Mr. Jordan. And can you tell me who you interacted with and when

those occurred?

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Ms. Page. So there's the one that's the subject of the IG
investigation or the IG report about Mr. McCabe that I'm not -- I don't
think I should get into here. It's a criminal referral now.

And then I was asked --

Mr. Jordan. So you can't -- are you saying you don't want to tell
me when or who or neither?

Ms. Page. No, no. So it's the -- it's the -- it'sthe Devlin
Barrett Washington Post in the late October' timeframe.

Mr. Jordan. I know which within you're --

Ms. Page. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I was obviously involved in
that. And then in early 2917, I was asked to -- so the Clinton case
was sort of over' and there were a number, of outlets who were seeking
to write like the comprehensive story of the Clinton case.

And so Mike Kortan, who is the head o-F public affairs, was engaging
with a number of them to kind of figure out who would sort of tell the
big story. And then there were a number of other outlets that were
doing it anyway. And so I worked with Mike on, I don't know, two or
three maybe Clinton stories.

Mr. Jordan. Did the press ever' -- I'm sorry. Did the press ever
approach you and give you any information?

Ms. Page. Not that I recall. I don't think so.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. I've just got a list of names I want to pun
past you and ask if you've communicated with any of these individuals.

Did you ever' communicate with Chr'istopher' Steele?

Ms. Page. No.

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Mr. Jordan. Richard Dearlove?

Ms. Page.gy I'm sorry, I didn't hears you, sin.

Mr. Jordan. Richard Dearlove.

Ms. Page. No.

Ms. Jeffress. Can we Just consult for, one moment?

(Discussion off the record.]

Ms. Jeffress. Go ahead.

Mr. Jordan. Joe Mifsud?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry?

Mr. Jordan. Joe Mifsud. Joseph Mifsud.

Ms. Page. Joseph Mifsud, no.

Mr. Jordan. Alexander Downer, have you ever' talked with him?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. Have you ever talked with Glenn Simpson?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. Have you ever' visited or talked with Nellie 0hr?

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Jordan. Can you tell me about those conversations and when
they took place?

Ms. Page. Yes. Bruce 0hr was my first boss at the Justice
Department.

Mr.Jordan. IwasaskingyouaboutNellie,butyoucantalkabout
Bruce as well.

Ms. Page. I have to get to Bruce -- I have to get to Nellie

through Bruce.

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Mr. Jordan. Got it, okay.

Ms. Page. Because the only time I've ever" spoken to her was in
the context of a summer' barbecue that Bruce held for, the officein,
I don't know, 2011 maybe, summer' of 2011.

Mr. Jordan. Sto were you pretty close with Bruce 0hr?

Ms. Page. No. He was my boss. It was for, the whole office.

Mr. Jordan. Bruce 0hr had it for your' office?

Ms. Page. So I was a prosecutor at the Justice Department from
2066 to 2012.

Mr. Jordan. Okay.

Ms. Page. And that entice -- for, almost that entire time, at
least until maybe early 2000 -- or middle of 2012, Bruce Ohr, wasmy
supervisor.

Mr. Jordan. Got it.

Ms. Page. He was the chief of the Organized Crime and
Racketeering Section, and I was a line prosecutor. And so in the --

Mr. Jordan. You worked for, Bruce 0hr for, how long, again, I'm
sorry, Ms. Page?

Ms. Page. He was in that position for, I think 5 of the 6 years
that I was there, I think.

Mr. Jordan. Okay.

Ms. Page. Maybe 5 and a half, I don't know. So in that -- in
that context, he had -- you know, he would have like a summer barbecue
for his --

Mr. Jordan. Got it.

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Ms. Page. -- staff and employees, and so I met Nellie at that.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. Did you ever talk with Cody Shearer?

Ms. Page. who?

Mr. Jordan. Cody Shearer.

Ms. _P_age_. No.

Mr. Jordan. Did you ever' communicate with Cindy Blumenthal?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. How about Victoria Newland in the State
Department?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Jordan. All right. I want to ask you a little bit about
travel. Did you travel much with your' current -- with your' timeat
the FBI working for Mr. McCabe, did you travel abroad much?

Ms. Page.. No.

Mr. Jordan. Did you travel abroad any?

Ms. Page. Abroad, once.

Mr. Jordan. And where to?

Ms. Page. -

Mr. Jordan. And what were the dates of that travel?

Ms. Page. —
-

Mr. Jordan. And that was for, official business?

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Jordan. Can you tell me what you did in - while you were

there in early -.t

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Ms. Page. I can't do that, sir. I'm sorry.
Mr. Jordan. Pardon?

Ms. Page. I can't -- on advice of FBI counsel, I can't go into
that detail.

Hc. Jordan. You went to - in early - Did
anyone travel with you, anyone else from the FBI?

Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Jordan. Who? Did Bill Pr'iestap?

Ms. Page. Bill Pr'iestap did not.

Mr. Jordan. If you can tell me who. Want me to guess?

Ms. Page. So I'm trying to count the right number, of people.
1t'seitherHourifiuetother's,buta11aneGS-15sorxbe1owso --except
for, Pete. I'm sorry, Pete was there, but --

Mr. Jordan. Peter Strzok and then four, or five others?

Ms. Page. No, no, no. Ne, Pete, and three others, Ibelieve.

Mr. Jordan. And can you give me their names?

Ms. Page. I cannot, sir.

Mr. Jordan. And why can't you?

Ms. Page. Because I've been instructed that GS-15s and below,

we're not providing those names.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. And that was the only time you traveled to
-?
Ms. Page. That is correct.

Mr. Jordan. All r'ight. I want to just give you something that

I brought up with Mr. -- with Mr. Strzok yester'day, if I could. This

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is an email that you and he exchanged back and forth. If we can pass
that down. I've got several copies there. I don't know if you've been
labeling exhibits, if the staff has or whatever, so I don't know what
number' or letter, this would be.

If you could just take a look at that, Ms. Page. Are youfamiliar
with this email exchange from January 19th, 2017?

Ms. Page. I mean, I have no recollection of it, but I see it
before me.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. So I just want to read what Agent Strzok sent
to you. He says: Comparing now. The set is only identical to what
McCain had. It has differences from what was given to us by Corn and
Simpson. And the subject line is: BuzzFeed is about to publish the
dossier'.

Do you know who Mr. Corn or -- do you know who Corn and Simpson
are?

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. I'm super' confused from where we all
landed on this yesterday, because it went round and round. Can FBI
counsel tell me what the parameters are on this?

[Discussion off the record.]

Ms. Page. I'm sorry. I do know the names Corn and Simpson, yes.

Mr. Jordan. You know their first names?

Ms. Page. Glenn Simpson, David Corn.

Mr. Jordan. And that's who this is r'efer'r'ing to, this email?

Ms. Page. Yes, I assume so.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. Can you Just tell me, because I didn't quite

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getthissquar'eyester'day. Tt1ookstome1ikeinthisparsticu1ar'email
that there are a couple versions of the dossier, at least parts of the
dossier. There's the set that BuzzFeed is about to publish which,
according to Mr. Strzok's email, is identical to what was given to the
FBI by Mr. McCain, Mr. McCain's staff -.. Senator, McCain's staff, I
should say. And then there's this other' one that you're getting from
David Corn and Glenn Simpson, which is the dossier, but different. Is
that how you read it?

Ms. Page. I think so, but honestly, I didn't have a ton to do
with it, so I don't -- that seems right to me, but I r'eally don't know,
because I wasn't really substantively involved with this.

Mr. Jordan. Have you read the dossier? Did you read the dossier,
while you were wor'king on this case at the FBI?

Ms. Page. So let me -- I guess I just want to clarify. I know
that the press has called the sort of set of reporting that -- that
was released on Buzzfeed and other, outlets the dossier. what we have
are a set of r'epor'ts from a source, obviously now well-known.

Mr. Jordan. Yes.

Ms. Page. So I did read some, but not all of the reports that
we received from Christopher' Steele.

Mr. Jordan. when was the -.. when did you first read the reports
from Christopher' Steele?

Ms. Page. I think we got them on the team in mid -- in mid to
late September. So --

Mr. Jordan. That's the first time you'd read them?

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Ms. Page. Yes.

Mr. Jordan. Mid to late September. Okay, thank you. I know
we're out of time, but I did want to circle back with one. Do you
communicate -- did you communicate with anyone at the State Department
on any type of regular basis or on any basis in the course of this
investigation?

Ms. Page. In the course of Russia or Midyear?

Mr. Jordan. Both, but mostly Russia is I guess what I'm focusing
on.

Ms. Page. No, no on Russia. 0n Midyear, I had a couple of
conversations, I don't know, I'd say three or fewer, where we were
trying to get classification decisions out of the State Department in
order to sort of finalize certain things. They were very slow in kind
of going through the classifications needed so that for, us to make an
assessment about whether there was classified information or not.

And so I was on probably one or two or three at the absolute most
conference calls with people at State, but that's the extent of it.

Mr. Jordan. And you don't recall the names of individuals you
spoke with in?

Ms. Page. Not right now, no.

Mr. Jordan. Okay. I think we're out of time, but thank you, Ms.
Page. f

[Recess.]

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[5:20 p.m.]

Ms. Kim; We're going back on the record. The time is 5:20.

Ms. Page, I'd like to return to the text messages. For eachone
that I'll return to, I will try to introduce it as an exhibit.

So I think this is actually the first formal exhibit we're
introducing in three rounds of questioning. So I'll mark as exhibit 1
a text message from July let, 2016.

[Page Exhibit No. 1
Was marked for, identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q Itfs about: I have no idea how destabilizing his Presidency
would be.

So I'll direct you to the text, eight texts from the top. It's
where you text Mr. Strzok an article link with the title, "Donald Trump
Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack." And you
attached your" personal comments, quote: "This is really shocking."

Can you explain this text?

A Yes. So I don't remember the article, but just based on the
context of the -- on the message here, you know, it's essentially
talking -- I mean, the sort of whole notion of the NATO alliance is
an attack on one, it's an attack on all. And so the prospect of in
any way diminishing or diluting that alliance is extraordinarily
concerning. And so, obviously, I'm Just quite shocked by the prospect
of what I presume is explained in this article.

Q You spoke earlier about your' general experience dealing with

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Russia, the country, as a threat. Can you explain in that context why
the NATO alliance is important?

A I mean, the NATO alliance is one of the sort of primary forces
which holds Russia in its sort of hegemonic-seeking, you know, pursuit
of dominance in check.

Q So in your' view, would it be a major diplomatic shift for a
candidate to state that he would impose new conditions for defending
NATO allies against attack?

A Yes, very much so.

Q So around 10 minutes after you sent that article, you texted
Mr. Strzok another' article link. It looks like it is entitled, "How
Donald Trump Picked His Running Mate." And you also appended a
personal commenther'e, quote: "This campaign is like watching atnain
wreck happen over, and over' and over' again."

So let me just give you the context for that article. It was
published on July 20th, 2616, in The New York Times. I think the most
widely publicized excerpt from that article reads: Donald Trump
wanted to make a senior adviser' to John Kasich an offer nonetheless.
Did John Kasich have any interest in being the most powerful Vice
President in history? when Kasich's adviser, asked how this would be
the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father's Vice President would
be in charge of domestic and foreign policy. Then what, theadviser
asked, would Trump be in charge of? Quote, "making America great

again,' unquote, was the casual reply.

Does it concern you that Donald Trump Jr. was offering Vice

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Presidential candidates the portfolio of domestic and foreign policy
so the President could focus on making America great again?

A It r'epr'esents a certainly different model for how the
executive branch is typically pun.

Q I think that's an accurate statement.

So then I think, let's turn back to your' text exchange with
Mr. Strzok.He responded to these articles, quote, "Trump is a
disaster'. I have no idea how destabilizing his Presidency would be."

Can you explain to me how you understand Mr. Strzok's text?

A I mean, I think it is in large part a reference back to the
sort of conditions for defending NATO allies. As I said, I mean, NATO
r'epr'esents one of the sort of primary checks against Russian expansion
of power'. And so changing conditions for NATO is destabilizing to the
wor,1dtmden,andIthinkthat'sentine1ywhathistextmessager'ef1ects.

Q So, again, what did you understand would be destabilized
through Mr. Trump's potential Presidency?

A The world.

Q The world. Thank you.

[Page Exhibit No. 2
Was marked for, identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q The next text that I'd like to discuss with you is what I'll
introduce as exhibit 2. It's a March 3rd, 2016, text exchange. You
talked about this briefly. It's from the evening of March 3rd, 2916,

when FOX News hosted a Presidential primary debate with the four,

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remaining candidates.

I'd like to read you a CNN article published about that debate.

A Okay.

Q It's entitled, "Republican Debate Turns Early." It was
published the very next day, on March 4th, 2016. And it reads: Donald
Trump opened the GOP debate here by boasting about the size of his
genitals. He responded to recent comments from Marco Rubio in which
the Florida Senator, joked about the size of Trump's hands and said,
you know what they say about men with small hands.

0n the debate stage, Trump stretched his hands out for the
audience to see, then insisted that the suggestion that, quote,
"something else must be small," unquote, was false. quote, "I
guarantee you there's no problem," unquote, Trump said to howls from
the audience at the FOX debate.

Do you remember this moment from the debate?

A I do.

Q And do you remember what your" reaction was to this subject
being discussed at a presidential primary debate?

A I mean, it's just not the dignity befitting a candidate
running for President. And to be clear', I am not a particularly
prudish -- obviously, I use plenty of harsh language, but it'sjust
beneath the dignity of the office.

Q So four, texts down on the exhibit I gave to you as exhibit 2,
you said, "God, Trump is a loathsome human."

Do you think this comment from Mr. Trump might have been part of

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what you're responding to in saying he was loathsome?

A It certainly may have been. I don't know. I mean, we are
essentially like live texting, for, lack of a better description, and
so I don't know whether, it was that reference or some other' thing that
I found offensive. But it's entirely possible that it's that.

I think this might have also been the one where he like engaged
in like personal name calling, and I'm just not a -- I'm not a fan of
bullying. I think it -- I -- and so the notion that you would also
have somebody who essentially bullies opponents, you know,
disagreement is one thing.

So it could have been that, too, but I'm just speculating at this
point.

Q Thank you.

I think there's a quote that we can discuss, engage with more
directly that seems to be more directly on this topic.

So four texts from the bottom of the page, you said: Also, did
you heap him make a comment about the size of his -- I'm assuming that
is dick -- earlier? This man cannot be President?

Were you stating that you personally intended to take official
actions to stop Donald Trump from becoming President?

A No.

Q Were you stating that the FBI should take official actions
to sabotage Donald Trump's Presidential campaign?

A No.

Q What did you mean?

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A Well, and also to be clear', there is no investigation at this
point.

Q That's correct.

A This is -- so there's -- there is nothing. Nothing exists.
This is just a reflection of my personal, private opinion thatthis
person does not have the fitness to hold this office.

Q And in clarification, you did not mean at this -- at this
point, the Hillary Clinton investigation was open. Is that correct?

A That's correct, yes.

Q But you were not evincing any kind of determination to help
Hillary Clinton at the cost of Donald Trump, were you?

A No. And at this point, Donald Trump is also not the
candidate. And as I sort of stated earlier -- no. I'll Just leave
it there. No.

Q Thank you.

There has been much made of a comment from Mr. Strzok, I think
four, texts above that one. It's the one where MP. Strzok wrote: God,
Hillary should win 186 million to zero.

A Right. So that has to actually be taken in context of the
prior text.

Q Yes.

A And so, I mean, this is not particularly kind, but we're Just
making fun of him, night, because he's calling the EPA, the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environmental

Protection.

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And so, yes, this is probably snobby and snarky of us, but it's
simply like, great, the dude's r'unning for, President and hedoesn't
know what the name of one of his Cabinet agencies is.

And so the "she should win 160 million to one" is not like his
personal view. It's Just this guy doesn't know government. He
doesn't knOW'the name of an organization that he's going to be in charge
of. This should be an easy defeat.

So it's not necessarily about like him personally. It's
Just -- I mean, I guess it is -- but it's a reflection of him not knowing
the name of the EPA.

Q Got it. Thank you.

[Page Exhibit No. 3
Was marked for, identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q I'd like to turn to a February 13th, 2816, text exchange.
We'll introduce it as exhibit 3.

So the third text on this page is where you wrote Mr. Strzok,
quote: "I'm no pnude, but I'm really appalled by this. So you don't
have to go looking, in case you hadn't heard, Trump called him the P
word.“ I believe by "him" you're referring to Senator, Cruz. "The man
has no dignity or' class. He simply cannot be President.“

And in that text you said Mr. Strzok will link to a New York Times
article from February 16th, 2016, entitled, "with a Slur for Ted Cruz,
Donald Trump Further Alienates Voters."

Do you remember this text?

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A I do.

Q Were you or are you a personal political suppor'ter' of Ted

A No.

Q So when you wrote that you were appalled by Donald Trump
calling Ted Cruz a vulgar' name, were you expressing a personal political
view or were you just expressing your' anger' at a Presidential candidate
using a slur at a public rally?

A I mean, it's both a slur and it's a -- again, a slur sort of
that's beneath the dignity of the office. I mean, my hope for, all
Presidential candidates, irrespective of party, is that it ls somebody
who you can have your' children look up to and for, whom you can simply
say, even where you disagree, that this is a person who's doing their,
best and trying their, best and is a good person. And I think that there
is no place for, slurs and just bullying, which is what this reflects.

Q Republicans have taken the quote "he simply cannot be
President" out of context and use it to suggest that you intended to
stoer. TrumpfrombecomingPresident. Canyouexplainwhatyoumeant
by "he simply cannot be President"?

A It's just my view that -- like how could we
possibly -- again, we, as a country, not we, the FBI, that -- I would
have had -- I wanted somebody whose demeanor and decorum I couldbe
proud of.

Q And you were expressing that view that someone using

polarizing and demeaning rhetoric against his opponents shouldn't

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assume our Nation's highest office?

A That's correct.

Q And you were not expressing the desire or intent to take
official action against Donald Trump?

A Well, there's not even -- yes, that's correct in all cases.
But for, what it's worth, there's not even an investigation open with
respect to collusion in his campaign at this point.

Q Thank you.

I'll turn now to an August 6th, 2016, text message. This isthe
text message where you talk about "that menace."

So I think you mention this in passing, but I just want to explore
a little bit more. In this exchange, front to back, you are discussing
whether Mr. Strzok will be getting a promotion. Is that correct?

A Not getting a promotion, but sort of staying in place long
enough in or'der' to be eligible for, a promotion.

Q Got it .

And if you look on the second page, I believe, the top message
says: AndmaybeyoujemeanttostaywhePeyouar'ebecauseyou'r'emeant
to protect the country from that menace.

You were --

A Do you have that article that follows? I didn't actually
notice ever, that I'm referring to something.

Q Yes. The article is about -- it's an op-ed about howTrump's
enablers will finally have to take a stand.

A No, I see that from the title. But do you have any idea what

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the content is?

Q I believe it is talking about the fecklessness of the
Republican Par'ty in standing up to the candidate.

A Okay.

Q Would it be helpful to see that article to discuss this?

A No, it's okay. I Just wasn't sure if it would sort oftrigger, any
further memories about what I was really thinking. But it's not a big
deal.

Q Okay. Well, if it helps, on Monday we can show you the
article.

A Okay.

Q I think that's fine.

But,youknou,rthinkyouvgerecomingonmu1tip1einterp'etations
of the word "menace," and I Just wanted to give you an opportunity to
state conclusively for us, did you mean the menace was Donald Trump?
Was the menace the fact that Russian attempts at collusion could then
result in access to the Oval Office? Can you explain to us a little
bit what you mean?

A I really can't do a better' job than I tried earlier‘, honestly.
I don't -- I'll look at the article, maybe it will remind me of
something, over, the weekend.

But it's -- look, it's clean I was not particularly fond of him
for all the reasons that I've already described.

But there is no question in my mind that the risk and the

possibility that somebody -- like, look, in the -- not the very worst

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case scenario, but in the middle worst case scenario you have someone
affiliatedwithhiscampaign --let'sassumethatthecandidatehimself
is unaware, which is a perfectly reasonable assumption -- but you have
somebody affiliated with his campaign who is working perhaps purposely
with the Russian Government.

And that is an incredibly terrifying prospect, particularly if
it was somebody close, particularly if it was somebody who might
be -- who might take official position, you know.

So I don't -- I don't really have a better -- a better' explanation
at this point. I'm sorry.

Q No. That's very clarifying. Thank you.

The text two texts below that one says -- it's from
Mr. Strzok -- it says: Thanks. It's absolutely true that we're both
very fortunate. And, of course, I'll try to approach it that way. I
just know it will be tough at times. I can protect our country at many
levels.

I think this is still in the context of Mr. Strzok discussing
whethephewi1lpursuepPomotionor'not. Canyouexplainwhatyoumeant
Mr. Strzok to mean by protecting our country at many levels?

A So I'm not ..- I mean, I'm not totally sur'e. I just -- I think
that we are both kind of reflecting in general on how fortunate we ace.
We both have Jobs that we absolutely loved with our whole hear't, that
literally both of us were the kind of people who never' -- you know,
occasionally have a bad day -- but like I have never' not liked going

to work. Like the FBI is an awesome place, and he feels the same way.

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And so I think that this is Just a reflection of like, there are
no bad choices here. You know, there is no wrong move. You are good
at what you do. You will do well wherever you ape.

I don't -- I don't know that I see it as particularly tied to the
Russia investigation. I Just think it's like: You're going to do
good. You're good at what you do. Like, he worries. He overthinks.
And so I think that this is just a like, you know, an attempt to sort
of -- there are no wrong choices here.

Q Yes. So that's whether he remains in his current position
or he does something else to try to get a promotion?

A Correct.

Q At either, level he would be doing something he loves?

A The country is winning because he is protecting it from
foreign threats.

Q And in the next text you say: I know it will too, but it's
just a job, it's not a reflection of your' worth on quality or smarts.

Does that add any context to what you were talking about?

A Yes. So, right, we're both smart, hardworking people, but
we both have a lot of self-doubt. And so this is a reflection of -- and
not to intrude too much in his own personal business -- but this is
a reflection of like: Do I put in for it? What if I don't get it?
And like, you know, Just like sort of the insecunitythat comes, I think,
with taking a chance at something that maybe is a little bit of a peach.

And so this is me just trying to sort of remind him that like a

job is a job, you are good at what you do, it doesn't matter whether,

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you get this or not. You are still -- you know, it's not a reflection
of your' worth or your' quality Ot' your' smarts.

Q That makes sense. Thank you.

[Page Exhibit No. 5
Was marked for identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q I'd like to introduce a text message that I will label as
exhibit 5. It is from May 3rd, 2016 -- May 4th, excuse me.

So on the evening of May 3rd,’ 2016, you and Mr. Strzok apparently
texted about the events of the day, which was that Ted Cruz had dropped
out of the Republican primary, which made Donald Trump the presumptive
Republican candidate.

Sixth text from the bottom you wrote, quote, "And holy shit. Cruz
just dropped out of the race. It's going to be a Clinton-Trump Pace.
Unbelievable. "

About a minute later' Mr‘. Str‘zok responded, in the text second from
last, "Now the pr'essur'e really starts to finish MYE."

Can you tell us what you understand this statement to mean?

A Yes. So the Director, was -- you know, certainly by May, the
Director, was very clean that like he wanted this case finished as fan
out as possible from the sort of political process as possible. And
so we knew equivocally, you know, he wanted it done before the
conventions, you know, to the greatest extent possible. If it wasn't
possible, it wasn't possible.

But he wanted us out of the political process. He wanted it done.

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He wanted it resolved so that people could make their, decision knowing
what we had found with respect to hen. Of course, we never" in

a million, zillion, jillion years could have anticipated that -- you
know, what would come. But we -- he wanted us out of the sort of active
political process that was happening.

And so now it's a two-party pace, night? Before -- while there's
still candidates and there's still primaries that ace sort of going
on, you know, it's obviously still the political process, but like now
we have a contest.

And so it very much for the whole team kind of upped the pressure
to like, we've got to get this -- like now we have atwo-party pace
now. Like the pressure really increases to finish this investigation.

Q So the pressure comes from the fact that the general election
campaign essentially started --

A Correct.

Q -- when Ted Cruz dropped out.

A Correct.

Q And can you also remind me of where the investigation was
at this stage in May 2616? You stated earlier that in this
timeframe --

A I mean, we had not seen sufficient evidence to be able to
charge Secretary Clinton with anything at this point, and so the
challenge was we still had investigative work to do. The work that
was left was not necessarily of a kind that we thought was goingto

change the determination.

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But like nobody -- just to be clear, like nobody had a closed mind.
This is not like the Pete and Lisa show about Hillary Clinton. This
is every single -- there ace four case agents, there are a slew of
analysts, there arefive pr'osecutor's. I mean, so this is not -- this
is the collective assessment of every person on the team.

And so we just were -- again, it was just a reflection that like
we want out of this. So far, there's not anything that's going to
suggest that we are going to be able to charge hen with anything, and
so we've got to do this night but we've got to do this fast. So now
like we need to close all the loose ends that ace sort of hanging.

Q So you're not talking about pressure to stop taking valid
investigative steps or pressure to come to a certain conclusion. Is
that correct?

A No.

Q And you're not talking about pressure to curtail the
investigation in any substantive way?

A No.

Q Did you ever' feel that the FBI had to compromise on its
investigative strategy because of the timing?

A No.

Q And in your' view, did the FBI take all necessary and prudent
steps it needed to in this investigation?

A Yes, definitely.

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[Page Exhibit No. 6
Was marked for identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q I'd like to direct you to the next text message, from
July lst, 2916. I'll mark it as exhibit 6.

So I believe you discussed this with the majority earlier. I'll
direct you to the seventh text on the page, where Mr. Strzok wrote to
you: "Holy cow, NYT breaking Apuzzo" -- I assume by "Lync" he means
"Lynch" -- "will accept whatever rec D and career pr'osecutor'smake.
No political appointee input."

Now, this text was several days after, the June 27th meeting
between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former, President Bill
Clinton on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport. To the best of your'
understanding, was this text about Loretta Lynch's announcement on
July lst that she would accept the recommendation of the FBI and the
career prosecutors in this case?

A Definitely, yeah. Our, phones are terrible, and they auto
correctconstantly,usuallywithfakewords. So"Lync"isprettygood.

Q Mr. Strzok and you in this exchange both expr'essed
displeasure about the timing of this announcement. So he wrote, two
texts down from the one that I Just referred to, he said: "Timing looks
like hell. will appear' choreographed."

Can you explain what that concern was?

A Yeah. So we, the FBI, know that the Director is making a

statement in 4 days. Obviously, the Justice Department doesn't know

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this. And so this is a reflection of us like, ugh, hen -- number, one,
hen saying this makes it look like -- you know, the whole purpose of
us doing this on our own was to be independent and to show like we're
not -- you know, we know the Justice Department agrees with us because
we are lockstep every step of the way.

So it's not as though -- I guess that is a point I didn't really
clarify earlier -- it's not as though we are usurping the pole of the
Justice Department in making a prosecutorial decision, because we know
the Justice Department is going to agr'ee not to prosecute, because we
have worked in tandem with the Justice Department at every single step
at every pant of the investigation.

So it's not really fair -- yes, it's obviously atypical for, him
to have made the statement on his own, but I really disagree, especially
at the time the sort of commentary that it was like a usurpationof
a pPosecutor"1a1 function, because he wasn't usurping anything.

Number one, he was saying, we -- you know, it's our' recommendation
that there's no prosecution. And, in fact, he was giving the Justice
Department cover' by saying no reasonable prosecutor would bring this
case.

He is literally saying they're not being sleazy, political
scumbags by not bringing this, me, Jim Comey, with all my, you know,
in all my glory, I'm telling you no reasonable prosecutor' would bring
this case. I mean, it was really designed to insulate the Justice
Department, not sort of usurp some righteous authority.

So back to your' question, what he' s saying is like, ugh, this makes

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it sound like we ace in some way working with or' working in tandem with
respect to the July 5th statement, because, again, we know the
statement's coming, the Justice Department doesn't. And so that's

what that's a reflection of.

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BY MS. KIM:

Q Earlier you were discussing with the majority the back and
forth between D03 and FBI about what statute to char'ge under. You just
told me that no reasonable -- as Jim Comey said, no reasonable
prosecutor would change under this case. Do you remember if the
Justice Department explicitly ordered or directed the FBI not to change
under the gr'oss negligence statute?

A It doesn't really work that way. You're sort of framing it
in too formala way. We had multiple conversations about whether the
facts and the evidence gathered to date was sufficient to make out a
change of gross negligence and, more importantly, to prove beyonda
reasonable doubt that she was grossly negligent in hen handling of
classified material.

And the Justice Department's explanation was that both, A -- and,
again, there might be more depth to this, but this is just all I know,
but that it was -- that the statute was constitutionally vague and had
only been changed once, either' not at all or once in like 106 years.
And I had a B, and I don't remember what it is now. But, more
importantly, I think, you also have to be sort of reasonable and
thoughtful about what we're talking about here.

You better, have a super' airtight case if you are about to change
a presidential candidate with anything, you know. It doesn't really
matter what we're talking about. And so the prospect of bringinga
change even if potentially you had the elements, which I'm not certain

that we did, but even if you had the elements on a statute that has

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either, never' been tested or is -- the assessment of the Justice
Department is that it is potentially an unconstitutional statute, which
is why it hasn't been charged, that's just -- I mean, nobody would do
that.

Q So I thinkthat's helpful. I Just want to understand then,
so it wasn't the Justice Department giving any kind of formal or
informal order to the FBI not to charge under gross negligence?

A But you're misunderstanding. We don't charge anything.
The FBI does not bring charges.

Q Understood.

A So the FBI investigates a case and then refers it to the
Justice Department for, changes. So if something was going to be
charged, it is the Justice Department who decides to charge that.

During the course of an investigation, the Justice Department
might be advising the FBI that I think that we'll be able to make out
a, you know, wire fraud case, so these are the types of evidenceto
look for. Oh we might be able to make out a terrorism case and so we
need to have the person say this or" whatever.

But so, you know, that sort of back and forth consultation
happens, but the FBI does not bring charges. The Justice Department
brings charges, and it was the Justice Department's assessmentthat
they did not have -- whether they had -- I don't know whether they had
evidence or not of gross negligence but that gross negligence was not
available as a statute to bring because it's -- of its constitutional

vagueness and its untestedness in court.

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Q I understand that. Let me try this another, way maybe.

A Okay. Sorry.

Q So let's say it had been a 50/50 shot whether, the gross
negligence statute should or should not be applied. Let's say itwas
a closer question than the one that was at hand here.

A Okay. Based on the evidence?

Q Based -- maybe we're talking about a different statute that
sometimes it's brought and sometimes it's not. In Jim Comey's opinion,
in the opinion of Jim Baker, in your' opinion, in the Office of OGC's
opinion, it had been a sound statute to bring the case under.

A Okay.

Q But the Department of Justice had simply disagreed with the
FBI. Does the FBI have the ability to recommend charges?

A The FBI has the ability to recommend charges.

Q Yes.

A The FBI has no ability to bring charges or to require or force
charges to be brought, night. So just to like use a hypothetical so
we're not talking aboutsomething confusing. ble are investigatinga
wire fraud case -- wipe fraud is not a good example. We're
investigating a bank robbery. The FBI thinks that Susie is the bank
robber. We're not great. It's -- the evidence is kind of close
because Mary was there too, and they look pretty similar and whatever.
There's other' evidence that suggest it's Mary or Susie. We feel like
it's Susie, we want Susie changed, we go to the Department, we lay out

all the evidence. If the Department doesn't think they can prove that

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Susie committed the bank robbery beyond a reasonable doubt, that case
ain't getting brought, doesn't matter, what the FBI does.

Q That makes sense. And I apologize for sending us into the
fantasy land of hypotheticals.

A No. No. That's okay.

Q But let me just bring it back here. I think the allegation
at hand is that the Department of Justice may have instructed the FBI

that it had no intention of changing under, a valid statute. Was that

the case --
A Oh.
Q -- in the case of the gross negligence statute?
A No.
Q No.

A No. Sorry.

Q In fact, it was an antiquated statute not in use that the
Department of Justice believed was constitutionally
vague -- unconstitutionally vague. Is that correct?

A That's correct. Sorry.

Q Okay. No. No. That's all I wanted to say. I feel like
earlier there was a colloquy where maybe questioners were left with
the impression that the Justice Department had abandoned a valid
bridge.

A Oh, no, no. I don't -- it is my view -- and, again, I'm
speaking for, the Justice Department, which is a dangerous thing to be

doing. It is my belief that the Justice Department did not believe

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that gross negligence was an available statute because they regarded
it as unconstitutionally vague.

Q Understood. Thank you.

So returning then to this text message, when Mr. Strzok wrote to
you that timing looks like hell, did he mean that the Department of
Justice and the FBI were precoordinating about Director Comey's
statement?

A They were not.

Q And you wrote about seven messages from the bottom of the
page: Yeah, it's a real profile in courage since she knows no charges
will be brought. Were you expressing the fact that Loretta Lynch had
some kind of knowledge of the draft that Jim Comey was coming up with?

A No. No. No. This is not a reflection of the draft at all.
This is, as I described, I think, with the majority earlier, this is
a reflection of my presumption that at this late stage of the
investigation where everybody on both sides knows that there are few,
if any, investigative steps to take that surely the attorney general
knows that there is going to be a recommendation for, no prosecution
in this matter.

And so I don't -- again, I don't have actual knowledge of that.
It is a text message. It's not designed to be a full colloquy of
my -- entirety of my knowledge. But it is just a reflection of that
fact that we're at the end of the investigation. She knows nobodyis
going to be charged. So instead of just sort of -- well. I don't

know -- that's enough, I think.

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Q Sure. So did you mean -- to be totally clear, did you mean
that AG Lynch had directed, ordered, or otherwise interfered with the
FBI to order that no char'ges be brought against Hillary Clinton?

A No.

Q I'll introduce the next text.

[Page Exhibit No. 7
Was marked for identification.]
BY NS. KIM:

Q It's Exhibit 7. August 5, 2016, text about a meeting. Let me
direct you to about halfway down the page, a little below halfway
down the page. Mr. Strzok wrote to you, quote: And hi. Went well.
Best we could have expected other than, redacted, comma, quote,the
white House is running this.

Next text you stated --

A Yep.

Q -- or, sorry, next text he stated, my answer', well maybe for,
youtheyare. Andinresponsetothesetextsyouwrote,yeah,whatever,
re the White House comment. We've got emails that say otherwise. Do
you remember what this meeting was about?

A I do. But a further explanation will call for, classified
information, so we should table that, please.

Q So any further discussion of this text will call for,
classified information?

A It is about -- again, like the last time, it is about the

broader intelligence community's investigation of Russian active

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measures.
Q And not about the specific Russian collusion investigation?
A Definitely not. I mean, that's a reflection of like the
White House isrunning this. My answer', well, maybe for you they are,

right. We ape thinking about our' counterintelligence

investigation --
Q I see.
A -- which the White House isn't touching, night. I'm not

sure the White House knows about it because that's not how the FBI
works. Theyareta1kingaboutthebroader'Russianactivemeasur'essoPt
of intelligence assessment and sort of work that was going onamong
the sort of large intelligence agencies, and so that's the sort of
difference there.

Q ' Thank you. I think that's the level of detail we needed.

A Okay. 0kay.Great.

Q And just to clarify, so then also the September' 2, 2016,
text ._. I won't introduce this', but it's the one where I think
Mr. Strzok was helping prepare Director Comey for, his meeting with
POTUS where POTUS wants to know everything we are doing. Again, that
was about the broader IC effort _...

A Yes.

Q -- not about the specific Russia collusion investigation?

A That's correct. Although I think it's me who said that, but,
yes.

Q Thank you.

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A And the "we" is like a collective we. Like, we FBI, other,
agencies, et cetera. I'm not sur'e it's -- it's the entire intelligence
community, right.

Q Yes.

A The President wants to know what's up from all of us, not
like what the FBI is doing.

Q Yeah. Got it. Thank you.

Let's return or let me introduce a text you've already seen
before. I'll mark that one as Exhibit 8.

[Page Exhibit No. 8
Was marked for identification.]
BY MS. KIM:

Q It's the one about I unleashed itwith MYE. Now I need to
fix it and finish it.

If you could turn to the third page actually. So it's
double-sided, so if you -- yes. 0n the third page, four texts down,
Mr. Stnzok wrote: Who gives an F? One more AD like, redacted, or
whoever. An investigation leading to impeachment, question mark?

A Right.

Q Can you explain how you understood that text?

A Yeah. So this is all -- I mean, I hope that you have read
the whole rest of the excruciating detail, only because you cansee
both of us ace going back and forth about whether, or' not to Join the
Mue11erteam,which,asanaside,Iwi11sup1ysay,ifwewer'edesper'ate

totakedownDona1dTrump,wewou1dbothbether'eandactiueariiou1dn't

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have hesitated at all.

And yet, all of these texts reflect a genuine sort of Indecision
about what was best for, us individually, what was best for us in the
context of our" respective families, what was best for, us
professionally. I mean, like that is what these pages of texts all
reflect for each of us and for, different reasons, ultimately.

But, again, this is the sort of same thing. This is in the context
of like -- again, and above you'll see -- if you don't mind, I would
like to sort of go back a little bit --

Q Certainly.

A -- to the top of the page. This is me to him: You shouldn't
take this on. I'm referring to Joining the special counsel team,
night. You shouldn't take this on. I promise you, I would tell you
if you should. And then he's trying to convince me about why I should
stay. And then he says: Why not, re me? He says the quote -- the
text you just read. And I say, let's just talk about it later, but
that doesn't work obviously.

But the point is, again, he's trying to sort of now give the
counter' point again, which is okay, so I become another -- you know,
I stay in place to get my next promotion. And so now I become another'
AD, you know, the sort of assistant director, the head of a division,
you know. Okay. That's fine. But as I described earlier, an
investigation -.. it doesn't say which may lead to impeachment.
Obviously, we had no idea. There's no preconceived notion here.

There's no determination because we've talked ad nauseam about the fact

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that we still don't know what's going on at this point.

So, yes, it's a shorthand. The words which may or' could or
possibly should be there, but it's Just a stupid text. And so an
investigation leading to impeachment is simply saying like, that's a
momentous thing. That doesn't happen a lot in American history.
We're both nerds. We're both, you know, patriots. Being a part of
something like that is cool. And in the same way that I said people
who are on Watergate are still known as Watergate prosecutors whether
they were, you know, the clerk who made the copies, like you're on
Watergate. And so that is all that that is a reflection of.

Q Understood.

And then it's, in fact, shortly after that text that -- and I'm
sorry to give you these like odd numbers. But six texts from the
bottom, Mr. Strzok again is taking the other side now. So he's like:
The odds could be nothing -- the odds are nothing. If I thought it
was likely, there would be no -- I would be there no question. I
hesitate in pant because of my sense and concern there's no big "there"
there.

I guess, taking those two together, do you take them to mean that
he is inspecting the entire spectrum of different outcomes the case
could have?

A Yes. This is -- this whole series of texts represents
ambivalence fon both of us, for a variety of reasons, including personal
ones, which are obviously evident in here and so there's no reason to

hide it. But, right, like we can't work closely on another, case again.

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I obviously want you -- I've already joined the team, but I obviously
want you to do what's right for, you.

I don't necessarily intend to stay, but, of course, I'm also torn,
as I've already sort of described, because it is, you know, an enormous
honor, to be asked and to be a part of something sort of that's quite
historic. 0n the other, hand, I really want to go home and be a mom
and sort of not be gone all the darn time.

Andsothewhole --youhavetokeepitinthecontextoftheentine
series, which you actually have before you, which is like, yeah, I
suppose that's right, but, God, we're a good team. Is that playing
into your' decision to your" advice to me? And I'm saying, no, not at
all. I just think we're both ready for, a change truly.

You know, and then he goes to, well, then it's about the different
realistic -- you know, this is just reflex ambivalence. This is not
about wanting to get Donald Trump or' -- I mean, it is purely our own
sort of personal choices and what is best For us, and as friends, trying
to support each other in weighing what is -- what would be best For
each of us, both personally, professionally, and all the other things
I already said.

Q Thank you for, going through the text messages with me. I
know that must not have been very pleasant.

A This is nothing.

Q No. You know, many of these texts have been used as
political fodder, or evidence accusing the FBI of being biassed and

corrupt, accusing you and Mr. Strzok personally of being bias and

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cor'r'upt. Can you just -- I'd like to give you the opportunity to
directly respond to anything you think is missing for the record.

A Excuse me.

Q Let's go off the record.

[Recess.]

BY MS. KIM:

q And, again, let me justexplain myself. I understand this
is very emotional. I understand this has been an extr'aor'dinar'ily
public trial before the IG report even came out, and I am so sorry for
everything you've gone through.

I would just like to give you the opportunity to put on the record
anything that you would like to put on the record because I don't think
you've been given that chance. I don't think that's anopportunity
that people in your' position get.

A No, it's not. This has been obviously the worst year of my
life. I have unquestionably made mistakes, but those mistakes reflect
my personal life and having bad judgment. But we have both been
committed to the defense of this country for, our entire careers, both
of us.

So we have been caught up in politics, and I understand that that
happens, and certainly, if I had this to do over" again, I wouldn't write
this shit down in my personal -- in a work-related text message. But
we have not been treated fairly.

what matters isour, actions. Our personal views, regardless of

what they are,are irrelevant. what matters is what we do. And over'

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and over, and over' and over" again, there is absolutely nothing that
anyone can point to to suggest that we ever' took any step that was
inappropriate. And, in fact, with all fairness, you all have my every
sentiment before you. It's not like we held back in here.

So if there was something to find, you have every single email
we have ever' exchanged. You have all of these text messages. There
is nothing to find here. We did a good job on both cases, and we did
it the way the American people would expect us to do it.

If you have more questions, you can go. It's fine. It's fine.
Don't worry about the time let's just do it.

Q Off the record.

(Recess.]

BY MS. KIM:

Q I also want to give you a chance to respond to another,
allegation that was made extremely publicly yesterday. Republicans
have been making the general point that an affair can be a blackmail
risk, a national security risk, and have speculated about whether you
and Mr. Strzok posed a national security risk because of the fact of
your' relationship could be used to coerce or blackmail you. Would you
like to respond to that allegation?

A I mean, it is untrue because we have always put our' country
first. And so we are well trained. We can recognize an approach. Any
attempt at compromise would not have been successful.

Q And, in fact, there was no such attempt at compromise?

A No.

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Q Thank you.

BY MS. HARIHARAN:

Q Okay. So let's just go back a little bit to your' time with
the special counsel's investigation just, again, to clarify forthe
record. You had mentioned you were there for about roughly 45 days.
As much as you can in this context, you know, generally describe your'
responsibilities on the team would be helpful.

A Yeah. So they were super' fluid because the team didn't
really exist. It was quite limited at that time. And so my -- I
think -- I can't say that I had a formal role that was being discussed
at length sort of if I was going to stay. I was having a number of
conversations about what roleI would take because Ididn't necessarily
want to be a prosecutor again, although that was available to meif
I wanted to. And I went back and forth on that too, frankly.

But so largely, you know, I brought institutional knowledge with
me, and I brought who and how the FBI works with me. Obviously, both
Bob Mueller and Aaron Zebley also had sort of extensive FBI
experience, but things change and people change, and sort of the
gettingthings done at the Bureau piece of things, having worked
for, the Deputy Director and that's, you know, sort of what I helped
him do as well.

I sort of largely played that facilitative role and, again, kind
ofhelpedbridgethe ;-excuseme,bridgethegapandtransitionbetween
what we as a team knew and the evidence that we had gathered to date
on the collusion investigation and sort of imparting that knowledge

to the new special counsel team.
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Q And in part, is it fair to say that, you know, since it had
Just started, no one really knows what they had, so what they needed
in terms of personnel was still up for grabs?

A No. I wouldn't say it had just started, night, because it
had been ongoing at this point for, 8 or so months. But, yes, it was
being consolidated in a way that was actually going to make it more
efficient in some ways. And at this point, from the beginning of the
year" through the appointment of special counsel, the case had been
somewhat bifurcated in an attempt to sort of relieve so much
responsibility, in part, on Pete, because he was a DAD running these
massive other, national security programs and sort of, you know,
responsible for this investigation, although not so much responsible
for, the day-to-day.

And so there was an effort to sort of split up the responsibility
of the Russia collusion investigation From January until the
appointment ofBob Mueller. And so while that might have lessened the
workload, it also made for, gr'eater' inefficiencies because now you have
two people kind of working different targets but needing to sort of
coordinate.

And so the point being is I'm not sure I helped necessarily with
personnel so much as sort of these are the buckets as we see them. These
ace the sort of -- these are the subjects. These are the types of
crimes. These are the sort of things that we're looking at and sort
of help them stand that up.

Q So, I mean, so it's fair to say though that you

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weren't -- didn't have like decisionmaking authority --

A No. No.
Q -- because it was still very -- even though it was still very
fluid?

A I didn't have decisionmaking authority full stop.

Q Okay. So part of the reason for' asking that is, you know,
there have been accusations levied against both you and Mr. Strzok that
your' -- the perception of bias in your' text messages has affected the
outcome or -- and infected the Mueller investigation, and we just want
to give you an opportunity to respond to that.

A Well, soit didn't. But I think it -- actually an important
thing to note is that -- and I think it came up yesterday. Although,
I don't really remember now -- initially Pete was not brought over' as
the senior, executive to pun the investigation. Another' individual
was, and that was not successful. It was not a good match with
Mr. Mueller. He did not really have the sufficient
counterintelligence background to be effective.

And so in pant because I think Pete's superiors wanted him to stay
in place, wanted him to sort of do his time in that so that he would
be eligible for, the next job and he could sort of move up the career
ladder', and in part reflecting Pete's own desire, as I sort of talked
about the ambivalence back and forth, he stayed at the FBI for, I don't
know, about maybe thefinst month ofthe special counsel actually. And
when the person that they brought over was just determined to not be

the right fit, everybody resorted back to the logical conclusion, which

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was to bring Pete back over' to the special counsel.
BY MS. KIM:

Q Do you know the dates or the approximate dates when you joined
and left the special counsel's investigation?

A So, yeah. He -- Mr. Mueller, asked me to join on the 18th, so
18th or 19th-ish. And it was 45 -- I mean, maybe not to the day, but
to the Friday or the Monday-ish, 45 days from there were my dates, so
end of June or something like that.

Q And this may sound like an elementary point, but to your'
knowledge, has the special counsel's investigation had an outcome?
Has it come to its conclusion?

A Well, they've had a lot of indictments, but I don't know what
the outcome is. I don't know what a conclusion looks like, so I'm not
really -- I can't really speculate as to that answer'.

Q So what would you say to allegations that you or Mr. Strzok
tainted the outcome of the special counsel's investigation?

A It hasn't happened yet.

Q I think that concludes our round of questioning for today.
Thank you so much.

A You're welcome.

Mr. Somers. I think I just want to thank the witness for her
appear'ance today. And I also want to -- we're going to hold this open
and resume this transcribed interview on Monday. We believe that the
start time will be 2:06, I think. But we want to keep the transcript

open and just resume so I don't have to read the preamble all over' again.

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Mr. Jeffress. Can it be understood she has -- she must stop at
6:66 p.m., so could we start earlier given that or --

Mr.Somers. Letmetakethatbackandseeifwecanstartearslier'.

Ms. Page. Maybe a little bit later', but not 11:66. I can't go
until 16:66, and I can't go until like 8:66. I'll go but I Just -- if
we can start earlier, that would be better', if possible.

Mr. Somers. I'll take that back and see what we can do. Do you
have a restriction on how early we can start?

Ms. Page. No.

Mr. Somers. I know we can't get the transcript of this until --

Mr. Jeffress. We just want it to exist. We don't need to review
it. We can start whenever you all want to start.

Mr. Somers. I'll take that back and see what we can do.

And I'll just note to the Department, just because the chairman
asked me to, that he continues to be frustrated by the assertionof
the -- or not allowing the witness to answer' questions about the
beginnings of the Trump Russia investigation, that he believes it goes
against the long established position of the House of Representatives
that in congressional proceedings committees are not required to
recognize unconstitutional privileges. I just want to note that for
the record. I'm sure there will be continuing discussions between the
chairman and the Department about these objections.

And with that, we'll stand in recess until Monday at a
to-be-determined time.

(blhepeupon, at 6:19 p.m., the interview was concluded to be

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reconvened on Monday July 16, 2018.]

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Certificate of Deponent/Interviewee

I have read the foregoing pages, which contain the cor'r'et:t

transcript of the answers made by me to the questions therein recorded.



Witness Name



Date

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