A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump, the ex-president, and FBI Director Chris Wray can both be deposed in sworn testimony in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former senior FBI official Peter Strzok and a case alleging unlawful release of personal text messages, filed by Lisa Page. A noted legal expert is applauding the decision.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson Thursday afternoon ordered Trump and Wray to be questioned in a case alleging the two former FBI agents were “targeted for retribution,” according to The Washington Post. There’s one caveat: President Joe Biden must agree to not invoke executive privilege. He has one month to weigh in.
“Strzok seeks reinstatement and back pay over what he alleges was his unfair termination for criticizing then-president Trump,” The Post reports. “Page alleges officials unlawfully released a trove of politically charged text messages she exchanged with Strzok, with whom she was having an affair.”
Judge Jackson “was right to rule that ex-POTUS Donald Trump and sitting FBI Director Christopher Wray may both be questioned in the lawsuits by ex-FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page,” constitutional law expert and University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University Laurence Tribe tweeted. Tribe is also the co-founder of the American Constitution Society.
“It’s called the rule of law, guys,” he added.
Earlier this month, as Politico’s Josh Gerstein suggested at the time, Trump brought this on himself when he “boasted” about getting Strzok and others fired:
As the court filing from Strzok on Feb. 3 noted, one day earlier Trump told Hugh Hewitt: “Don’t forget, these guys, before I even got in, they were spying on my campaign, long before I got in. This didn’t just happen. And if I didn’t fire Comey, and if I didn’t fire McCabe and Strzok and Page and all of that scum that was in there, you would have had, they were trying to do an overthrow. And they, just think of it. They spied on my campaign from the time I came down the escalator. And here I am, innocently running to do something great, and I have this garbage that’s in there headed up by Comey and the group. They spied on my campaign, and I got rid of them all. I got rid of them all. But it was more than them. It was more than them, and you know that. And you know that’s coming again.”