Top FBI agent is removed from Russia investigation over possible anti-Trump texts.
WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert Mueller, removed a top FBI agent from his investigation into Russian election meddling after the Justice Department’s inspector general began examining whether the agent had sent text messages that expressed anti-Trump political views, according to three people briefed on the matter.
The agent, Peter Strzok, is considered one of the most experienced and trusted FBI counterintelligence investigators. He helped lead the investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information on her private email account and played a major role in the investigation into links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia. But Strzok was reassigned this summer from Mueller’s investigation to the FBI’s human resources department, where he has been stationed since. The people briefed on the case said the transfer followed the discovery of text messages in which Strzok and a colleague reacted to news events, like presidential debates, in ways that could appear critical of Trump.
“Immediately upon learning of the allegations, the special counsel’s office removed Peter Strzok from the investigation,” said a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, Peter Carr.
The Justice Department’s inspector general office said in a statement that as part of a larger inquiry it was conducting into how the FBI had handled investigations related to the 2016 election, the office was “reviewing allegations involving communications between certain individuals, and will report its findings regarding those allegations promptly upon completion of the review of them.”
A lawyer for Strzok declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said that “we are aware of the allegation and are taking any and all appropriate steps.”