Republicans grill FBI agent who said he would 'stop' Trump

An FBI agent who worked on investigations into Democrat Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump's campaign testified behind closed doors to a House committee today as GOP lawmakers stepped up efforts to highlight what they say is bias at the Justice Department.

Peter Strzok exchanged anti-Trump texts with a colleague, FBI attorney Lisa Page, as both worked on the Clinton investigation and briefly on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between Trump's campaign and Russia. House Republicans have seized on the texts as part of multiple investigations into the Justice Department, the FBI and decisions that both made during the 2016 presidential election.

In one of the texts, from August 2016, Strzok wrote, "We'll stop it," in reference to a potential Trump election win.

The barrage of GOP criticism against the Justice Department comes just a few months before the midterm elections, and amid intense sparring between the parties over Mueller's investigation.

Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to undermine Mueller's investigation for political gain.

President Donald Trump criticised the closed-door interview earlier with Strzok this week, saying that it should be "shown to the public on live television, not a closed door hearing that nobody will see."