A federal judge on Thursday rejected an effort by the Justice Department to prevent former President Donald Trump from appearing for a plea related to a pair of lawsuits brought by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
The order, issued by US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington, DC, is a victory for Strzok’s lawyers, who are seeking Trump’s statement to determine whether he met with and pressured FBI and Justice Department officials. directly to fire Strzok or urged any aides to do so.
The order was in response to the Justice Department’s request that it reconsider an earlier ruling that Strzok’s lawyers could go ahead with a statement by Trump in the lawsuits against the Justice Department and the FBI that Strzok and Page filed in 2019.
The Justice Department argued Wednesday that “new available evidence” stemming from testimony by FBI Director Christopher Wray last week, as well as sworn testimony from other high-level government officials with “direct knowledge” of the communications from Trump regarding Strzok and Page, was grounds for reconsidering a statement involving Trump.
“The availability of such evidence to Mr. Strzok means that former President Trump’s statement is not appropriate,” the government lawyers wrote, expanding on their earlier argument in support of what is known as the apex doctrine, which states that officials they are generally not subject to depositions unless they have some personal knowledge of the matter and the information cannot be obtained elsewhere.
Lawyers for the Justice Department argued that Wray’s testimony could make it unnecessary to have a deposition with Trump. Much of the “recently available evidence” cited by the Justice Department was redacted from the court filing.
In his order Thursday, Jackson said a statement with Trump can move forward.
“Given the limited nature of the deposition that has been ordered, and the fact that the former president’s timeline appears to be able to accommodate other civil litigation that he has initiated, the balance outcome required by core doctrine remains the same for everyone. for the reasons stated above,” Jackson wrote.
He also said that while existing testimony did not appear to strengthen the argument that Trump played a role in Strzok’s firing, his involvement in the matter had been “publicly boasted.”
Lawyers for Strzok and Page did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Neither did the Justice Department or a Trump spokesperson.
Two months ago, Jackson agreed to block a May 24 statement from Trump regarding the lawsuits, siding with the Justice Department’s request that Wray be pleaded first, but maintained that his earlier decision allowing plea of Trump was correct.
Strzok and Page were ousted from then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation after text messages critical of Trump became public in December 2017. They were later fired from the FBI.
Trump often belittled Strzok and Page while in office. While Strzok argues that he was wrongfully terminated, Page, who resigned as an FBI attorney in May 2018, alleges privacy violations. His lawsuit alleges that the text messages he exchanged with Strzok were posted illegally and that attacks by Trump and his associates damaged his reputation.
