A judge ruled on Thursday that former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.
In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has officially moved to ask a federal judge to force former Vice President Mike Pence to submit testimony for the agency’s probe into January 6 and Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Mr Trump spent the day Wednesday visiting the site of the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be “forgotten” while attacking the Biden administration’s “indifferent” response to the disastrous chemical spill in their town.
