A U.S. District Judge has denied a motion brought forward by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a case related to lawsuits filed by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
The DOJ had attempted to prevent former President Donald Trump from being deposed in the two suits, which seek to determine whether or not he met with and directly pressured FBI and Justice Department officials into firing Strzok or urged any White House aides to do so.
The request was based on new evidence such as testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray and other government officials familiar with Trump’s communications regarding Strzok and Page, but this motion has been refused by Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
“The availability of that evidence to Mr. Strzok means the deposition of former President Trump is not appropriate,” wrote Justice Department attorneys, which further reinforced their previous argument in favor of the apex doctrine, a principle that asserts officials are typically exempt from depositions unless they possess firsthand knowledge of the subject matter and the information cannot be obtained through alternative means.
DOJ attorneys had contended previously that Wray’s testimony could likely eliminate any need for a deposition from Trump. The department referred to “newly available evidence” in the court filing, although much of the specific details were redacted.
In her order, Jackson ruled that depositions involving Trump could go ahead.
“Given the limited nature of the deposition that has been ordered, and the fact that the former President’s schedule appears to be able to accommodate other civil litigation that he has initiated, the outcome of the balancing required by the apex doctrine remains the same for all of the reasons previously stated,” Jackson wrote.
The judge observed that the available testimony did not appear to provide strong support for the argument that Trump personally terminated Strzok. Nevertheless, she emphasized that the former president had “publicly boasted” about his involvement in the matter.
The recent news that District Attorney Fani Willis has asked judges in a downtown Atlanta courthouse to not schedule any trials between August 7 and August 14 has raised some significant questions.
In addition, she has told her staff to work remotely from July 31 through August 18 and these events have only added further fuel to the ongoing investigations into former president Donald Trump’s possible criminal activities.
This all began back in December 2017 when certain text messages were exposed involving two FBI agents: Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. These messages hinted at an attempt by the FBI to stop Trump from becoming president in favor of his rival, Hillary Clinton.
Strzok and Page were subsequently removed from then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and eventually fired from their positions at the FBI. In response, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed 34 counts against Trump pertaining to his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Furthermore, District Attorney Alvin Bragg issued a 37-count indictment in Manhattan relating to a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
This was followed up by reports that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had also begun looking into potential charges against Trump for alleged interference with the outcome of the 2020 election within Georgia state lines.
