The Department of Justice asked a federal judge to block Donald Trump from being deposed in a wrongful termination suit filed by former FBI agent Peter Strzok.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that Trump couldn't be deposed until Strzok's attorneys had questioned FBI director Christopher Wray, saying he might make the former president's testimony unnecessary, and the Justice Department filed a motion Wednesday asking to block Trump's deposition after Wray was deposed last week, reported ABC News.
"The deposition of former President Trump is not appropriate," Justice Department attorneys wrote in the motion to quash a subpoena to Trump.
The motion suggests that Wray told Strzok's attorneys under oath that the FBI deputy director had made the decision to fire the veteran agent, who had helped launch the FBI investigation into Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and his lawsuit alleges the firing had violated his First Amendment rights.
Strzok had at first been part of special counsel Robert Mueller's team until an internal probe discovered private text messages he had sent to then-FBI attorney Lisa Page that were highly critical of Trump, who then publicly criticized the pair before Strzok was terminated.
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Page, who resigned from the FBI three months before Strzok's firing, is also suing the federal government, which she says violated the Privacy Act by publicly releasing her text messages.
Other administration officials have provided sworn testimony in the case, including former White House chief of staff John Kelly, who claimed that Trump discussed whether Strzok and Page could be disciplined, but he told attorneys that he did not always take notes during meetings with the former president.
"President Trump generally disapproved of taking notes in meetings," Kelly said under oath. "He expressed concern that the notes might later be used against him."
