Ex-FBI lawyer Page working on new meeting time with GOP lawmakers: attorney

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page’s attorney says they are working quickly to arrange a new time for the controversial official to testify on Capitol Hill after Page said she was defying a GOP-issued subpoena for her to appear on Wednesday morning.

Page’s lawyer, Amy Jeffress, pushed back on claims that Page is unwilling to cooperate with the order after she missed the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena deadline.

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Her lawyer said they were not able to obtain the proper paperwork from the Department of Justice before her slated testimony, nor would the panel provide them with the scope of the interview, as they are required to do. 

“She has offered to voluntarily appear before the Committees later this month. She simply needs clarification of the scope of the Committee’s interest in interviewing her and access to relevant documents so that she can provide complete and accurate testimony,” Jeffress said in a Wednesday statement.

“I received a message from the Department of Justice after 11 pm last night that they have finally granted her request to review the relevant documents. We are working to arrange that process quickly so that we can move forward with her appearance before the Committees.”

The paperwork includes her notes and other materials — records that would help prepare Page to answer lawmakers’ questions as the House Judiciary and the Oversight and Government Reform committees continue to examine FBI and Justice Department decisionmaking during the 2016 presidential race.

Page has become a top Republican target after the public revelation of critical Trump texts that she exchanged during the election with FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, whom she was having an affair with at the time.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) slammed Page after Jeffress released a statement late Tuesday stating that the former FBI lawyer “would not appear for an interview at this time,” stating that they will work on a new date once they have the relevant documents and sufficient time to prepare.

“It appears that Lisa Page has something to hide. She plans to blatantly defy a congressional subpoena by refusing to appear for her deposition,” Goodlatte said in a statement late Tuesday.

“She has no excuse for her failure to appear,” he continued, stating that they will use “all tools at our disposal to obtain her testimony.” 

Jeffress slammed the GOP lawmakers who were claiming Page “has anything to hide or is unwilling to testify,” stating that she has “made it abundantly clear that she will cooperate with this investigation.”

“The [Judiciary] and [House Oversight and Government Reform] Committees’ bullying tactics here are unnecessary. We expect them to agree to another date so that Lisa can appear before the Committees in the near future,” the statement continues.

Page, who was a close adviser to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, left the agency in May.

The subpoena deadline, set for Wednesday at 10 a.m., comes after a recent 11-hour closed-door interview with Strzok, who repeatedly denied showing political favoritism toward former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Strzok is expected to appear before Congress again on Thursday for an open hearing.

Democrats have criticized the joint investigation as a partisan witch hunt led by allies of the president who are seeking to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.