Son of Bob Goodlatte Blasts Father Over Strzok Firing
Bobby Goodlatte has donated to his dad's Democratic rivals and urged others to also
By Josh Gardner, Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2018 6:30 PM CDT
51 comments Comments
Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., sighs during a break of a House Judiciary Committee hearing. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
(Newser) – The son of a high-ranking House Republican has prominently come out in support of a Democrat for his father's seat. Bobby Goodlatte, son of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, tweeted Sunday that he'd given the "maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis," who he notes is the Democrat running for Rep. Goodlatte's seat, which he announced he would not be running for re-election. "I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts," the younger Goodlatte wrote. "Let's do this!" Outlets including Politico picked up the story as Bobby Goodlatte continued to tweet, fleshing out some of the reasoning behind the boldly public move. On Monday, he tweeted: "I’m deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok’s career was ruined by my father’s political grandstanding."
As Vox notes, Rep. Goodlatte presided over the June hearing in which Strzok was grilled by him and fellow members of the GOP over text messages he once sent to an FBI lawyer that appeared to show his bias against then candidate Donald Trump. "That committee hearing was a low point for Congress," Bobby Goodlatte tweeted about the 10-hour hearing before turning his attention back to Strzok. "Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot." According to the AP, Jennifer Lewis' campaign manager, Josh Stanfield, said more than $25,000 had come in from across the country following Bobby Goodlatte's stunning tweet. "Everyone is sort of caught off guard," Stanfield said. "But obviously it's compelling for some reason."
