Democratic lawmaker says Peter Strzok deserves Purple Heart for enduring hearing

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Rep. Cohen tells Strzok he deserves a Purple Heart

Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee says Republican attacks on the anti-Trump FBI agent are an attempt to undermine the Russian collusion investigation.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., told embattled FBI agent Peter Strzok Thursday that he deserved a Purple Heart for sitting through a public hearing that frequently veered off track and degenerated into shouting matches more than once.

"Mr. Strzok, I don't know where to start," Cohen said as he started his allotted five minutes. "If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would. You deserve one."

Cohen went on to describe the hearing as "an attack on you and a way to attack [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller and the investigation that is to get at Russian collusion involved in our elections, which is what this committee should be looking at."

Strzok, who was an Army officer before joining the FBI, repeatedly denied acting on his anti-Trump views while he worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation and while he worked on the Mueller probe. Strzok was pulled off the Mueller investigation last year after the Justice Department's internal watchdog made the special prosecutor aware of the texts.

The Purple Heart typically is awarded to members of the U.S. military who are wounded or killed by enemies in war.

Cohen concluded his five-minute monologue with a flourish, saying "the Russians are loving [this hearing], because this is what they want. This is what they want. You’d think it was Benghazi. It was a never-ending television show from Congress that got nowhere except trying to influence the people that watch Fox News, and that’s what this is about ... This is nothing but a ruse to try to get to the Mueller investigation and make people think it's baseless, that it's biased ...

"Just as Jack Nicholson said in the movie 'A Few Good Men,' 'You can't handle the truth.' And the truth is, this is the most corrupt administration ever, and it's going to be exposed by Robert Mueller, thank God."

Fox News' Mike Arroyo contributed to this report.