President Donald Trump trusts the members of the FBI but the United States is "dealing with a bad actor or a few bad actors" with people like agent Peter Strzok and his actions while investigating 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Tuesday.
"I think if we paraphrase [Ronald] Reagan, 'trust but verify,' the president is doing just that," Issa told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "He trusts the FBI, he trusts the men and women who serve their country loyally, Peter Strzok is an example of someone who rose to positions of great power and authority whose own computer, by his own admission under oath, finally, was the computer that downgraded Hillary Clinton's charges from a criminal charge to a choice of words that made it not criminal and thus allowed Comey to say there is no chargeable offense."
Monday, Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity that former President Barack Obama was not tough enough on Russia, and said it must be determined who Strzok reported to because it was [former FBI Director James] Comey and it was [former Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe, but it was also probably [President] Obama."
Strzok's actions, Issa said, "causes all of us to say we cannot blindly trust even our own agencies."
There are some members of Congress who have heard former FBI attorney Lisa Page, who has been speaking in private hearings on Capitol Hill the past few days, saying they are receiving more credible information from her, and Issa said that's because she has been "very careful."
"She kept herself out of any peril in my opinion during her deposition," Issa siad. "But she also was very careful. It was revealing, and I think [Rep.] Mark Meadows and myself and others saw a certain amount of new information. It makes us understand the operation."
He said he does find it "disconcerting" Page discounted her importance in the investigation into Russian meddling, and her statement they could not have made a difference.
"I don't quite swallow that," Issa said. "I think we'll find, just like that computer, his computer that was used to change that charge, if you will, we're going to find their hands were on it and their bias was evident in both the investigations."