Agent Peter Strzok — who headed the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email investigation and was briefly a member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team — was fired by the bureau, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.
Mr. Strzok’s position was terminated by the bureau because of the anti-Trump messages he sent during the 2016 campaign.
The FBI did not give a comment.
A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment, saying the matter is being handled internally by the FBI.
Aitan Goelman, Mr. Strzok’s lawyer, told Post reporters that the order was handed down by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, in contradiction to another order given by the office with jurisdiction over employee discipline. Mr. Strzok was initially told he would have a 60-day suspension.
“This isn’t the normal process in any way more than name,” Mr. Goelman told The Post.
President Trump celebrated Mr. Strzok’s firing on Monday, saying “the list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer and longer.”
Mr. Trump suggested the Mueller investigation be called off because of Mr. Strzok’s involvement. He framed the Russia probe as “a total fraud,” and called for it be “properly redone!”
Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI – finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction – I just fight back!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018
Just fired Agent Strzok, formerly of the FBI, was in charge of the Crooked Hillary Clinton sham investigation. It was a total fraud on the American public and should be properly redone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018
The DOJ’s inspector general report on the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation revealed Mr. Strzok and his mistress, fellow FBI employee Lisa Page, blatantly discussed their disdain and concern about a Trump presidency during the campaign season.
Mr. Strzok was part of both the Clinton investigation and the ongoing Russia probe.
A 22-year veteran of the bureau, Mr. Strzok led several of the bureau’s top investigations. But he was demoted to human resources last year after Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz discovered the texts lambasting Mr. Trump. Mr. Strzok was also escorted out of the FBI building in June, losing his security clearance in the process, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at the time.
Using terms like “loathsome” and “an idiot,” Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page, ripped the president and his supporters. In one cryptic text, he promised to “stop” Mr. Trump.
Those texts eventually got him booted from Mr. Mueller’s Russia probe.
Ms. Page, who was also, briefly, a part of the special counsel team, left the FBI earlier this year. She is said to have left voluntarily to pursue another job elsewhere.
Once the texts became public, the lovebirds became the target of conservatives who charged the special counsel investigation was a politically biased effort to remove Mr. Trump.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump again referenced the pair in a tweet blasting the FBI and other top officials at the bureau, former FBI Director James B. Comey and former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe.
“Will the FBI ever recover its once stellar reputation so badly damaged by Comey, McCabe, Peter S and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page and other top officials now dismissed for fired,” the president tweeted. “So many of the great men and women of the FBI have burt by these clowns and losers.”
Conservative criticism landed Mr. Strzok in front a joint hearing by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees last month. He told lawmakers his personal political views did not influence either the Clinton email investigation or the Mueller probe.
“At no time in any of these texts did those personal beliefs ever enter into the realm of any action I took,” Mr. Strzok testified.
He also testified that he regretted sending the nearly 50,000 text messages, but was adamant that his views did not impact his investigations.
Mr. Strzok engaged in several contentious arguments with Republicans, including Reps. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
But Democrats were largely supportive of Mr. Strzok, with some accusing their colleagues on the right of using his texts to undermine the Mueller Russia probe.
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Source:Washington Times
