FBI counterintelligence officer Peter Strzok displayed "unprecedented bias" through the statements he made while in the middle of several major investigations, Rep. Trey Gowdy said Tuesday, and he wants to know how he ended up on special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating possible connections between Russia and President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
"Thank God he is gone, but I want to know how the hell he got there in the first place," the South Carolina Republican, who House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" anchor Bill Hemmer.
Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation after numerous anti-Trump text messages he'd exchanged with FBI lawyer Lisa Page surfaced. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, and will be questioned about texts that mention the name "Andy" in connection with a meeting purportedly held in his office along with Strzok and Page.
In the texts, Strzok said he wanted "to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office — that there's no way he gets elected — but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40."
"What I hope is the insurance policy was not a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign," said Gowdy. "You can't read that text in isolation, though. This was a level of bias that you rarely see, frankly."
Gowdy said that Mueller also should have been aware of Strzok's actions, but he is heartened by the fact that the former FBI director removed him from the investigation when the texts were revealed.
Still, Mueller is responsible for the people on his team, he said.
"I ran a district attorney's office. I am responsible for every hire that we made while I was there," he told Hemmer. "Although I didn't conduct every hire and interview while I was there, the boss always is responsible. Do I think that Robert Mueller did the actual interviews and asked people hey, do you have any bias? Have you donated to campaigns? No."
Meanwhile, Gowdy said he there should be a further look into allegations, detailed in a Politico article, claiming that former President Barack Obama's administration ignored Hezbollah while trying to "curry favor with another terrorist group."
"I don't want to base it off of a Politico story, but Congress needs to look into it," said Gowdy. "The allegation is incredibly serious that you would ignore a group that's killing American soldiers and wreaking havoc around the world so you can cut a deal with a country no one trusts? It's a serious allegation."