In an already heated — and oftentimes, absurd — congressional hearing, one Democratic congressman made a comment so laughable it defies imagination.
When given time to speak during a House Oversight Committee hearing questioning Peter Strzok, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) said the embattled FBI agent deserved a military award for his role in the Russian election meddling investigation.
“If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would,” Cohen told Strzok. “You deserve one.”
At least the Democrats in the room didn’t clap, as they did when Strzok provided his opening statements.
The Purple Heart is given to members of the U.S. military who are wounded or killed in combat. Strzok sent anti-Trump texts while leading the FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
His actions received a rebuking from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, who wrote: “We did not have confidence that Strzok’s decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the [Anthony] Weiner laptop was free from bias.” Strzok was also removed last year from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election over his text messages. Stzok pushed back against Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-SC) questioning of his bias, evidenced in the texts, by saying it wasn’t bias that got him removed from Mueller’s team, but the “appearance of bias.”
Strzok maintains that his actions were not biased, despite texting his mistress, Lisa Page, that the government needed an “insurance policy” if Trump were elected and “We’ll stop” him from becoming president.
This comment was just one in a day of bonkers testimony. Early on, Strzok attempted to refuse basic questions such as how many witnesses were questioned in the first week of the investigation into whether Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
Watch:
Here’s the moment @RepCohen says Peter Strzok deserves a Purple Heart, as if sending mean texts amounts to military combat. pic.twitter.com/v3ZD9EadUV
— Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) July 12, 2018
