A federal judge said Thursday that former President Donald Trump could be impeached as part of a pair of lawsuits filed by two former FBI employees.
US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the attorneys for the couple, former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, could ask Trump questions about the topic for a limited amount of time. Strzok and Page were subject to public criticism by the former president after text messages between the two were released in which they disparaged Trump and said they were worried he would win the presidency.
Strzok was fired from the FBI amid a political firestorm, and Page resigned soon after. Both claimed they were targeted for political retribution; Strzok is demanding his return and for back pay, and Page has sued saying the release of the texts violated federal privacy laws.
“The court authorizes the plaintiffs to conduct a deposition of each witness that does not exceed two hours and is limited to a specified topic,” Jackson ruled Monday after a closed hearing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The order also applies to current FBI Director Christopher Wray. It’s unclear whether the deposition will move forward because Berman’s order allows the White House a month to determine whether the Justice Department will seek executive privilege over Trump’s testimony.
Politico reports the judge also left room for Trump to argue that he has the right to invoke the privilege as a former president.
The decision came after lawyers for Strzok and Page said they had interviewed officials and lower-level sources related to the lawsuit and needed more information from Trump and Wray, the Washington Post notes. The newspaper also reported that a recent interview Trump gave to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, in which he bragged about firing the couple and other officials, may have influenced the judge’s decision.
“If I didn’t fire Comey, and if I didn’t fire McCabe and Strzok and Page and all the scum that was there, you would have, they tried to overthrow him,” said the former president. “The Hugh Hewitt Show” earlier this month.
The FBI and Justice Department have maintained that Strzok’s firing was not political.