FBI/GOP/HOUSE OF REPS/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The embattled F.B.I. agent who oversaw the opening of the Russia investigation mounted an aggressive personal defense on Thursday [7-12-18], rejecting accusations that he let his private political views bias his official actions and labeling Republicans’ preoccupation with him ‘another victory notch in Putin’s belt…’ But in defending himself and his agency, Mr. Strzok had to weather hours of blistering attacks by Republicans, whose accusations drifted from personal animus toward President Trump to blatant lying and moral misconduct with a senior F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page. It was a remarkable performance by Republicans, long seen as the party of law and order and the defenders of law-enforcement power and prerogatives. Democrats, on the other side of a now-gaping divide over the F.B.I., repeatedly accused their Republican colleagues of launching their own politically motivated investigation of the investigators to sully the reputation of federal law enforcement, boost Mr. Trump and ignore a hostile foreign power’s attack on American democracy.”
–Nicholas Fandos, “F.B.I. Agent Defends Actions in Russia Probe in Contentious House Testimony,” The New York Times online, July 12, 2018