FBI agent fired over anti-Trump texts
Some find the decision politically charged, troubling
WASHINGTON — The FBI has fired agent Peter Strzok, who helped lead the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election until officials discovered he had been sending anti-Trump texts.
Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s attorney, said FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich ordered the firing Friday, even though the director of the FBI office that normally handles employee discipline had decided Strzok should face only a demotion and 60-day suspension. Goelman said the move undercuts the FBI’s repeated assurances that Strzok would be afforded the normal disciplinary process.
“This isn’t the normal process in any way more than name,” Goelman said, adding in a statement, “This decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans.”
The FBI declined to comment.
The termination marks a remarkable downfall for Strzok, a 22-year veteran of the bureau who investigated Russian spies, defense officials accused of selling secrets to China and myriad other important cases. In the twilight of his career, Strzok was integral to two of the bureau’s most highprofile investigations — the Russia case and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
But when a Justice Department inspector-general investigation uncovered politically charged messages that Strzok had exchanged with another FBI official, he was relegated to a position in human resources. Conservatives soon made Strzok the face of their attacks against the special counsel investigation into the president’s campaign, and the FBI took steps to remove Strzok from its ranks.
Conservatives on Monday hailed the move. President Donald Trump used it to suggest the Russia investigation should be dropped and the Clinton case 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!” he wrote.
The reaction among Democrats was more understated. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said Strzok’s firing did not undercut Mueller’s probe, which had produced dozens of indictments.
“Sorry, @realDonaldTrump, the #RussiaInvestigation is bigger than one agent (who was at least willing to go under oath).” Swalwell tweeted, citing the president’s Twitter handle.
Because Strzok was a senior-level FBI employee, and because the FBI’s No. 2 official directed his firing, he has few realistic avenues left to get back his job. It was unclear whether he planned to pursue legal action against the bureau.
Strzok’s position in the bureau had been precarious since last summer, when the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, told special counsel Robert Mueller that the lead agent on his team had been exchanging antiTrump messages with an FBI lawyer. The next day, Mueller expelled Strzok from the group.
The lawyer, Lisa Page, had also been a part of Mueller’s team, though she left a few weeks earlier and no longer works for the FBI. She and Strzok were having an affair.
Trump has previously derided the pair as “FBI lovers,” and he and his conservative allies have pointed to their conduct in an attempt to discredit the Mueller probe. On Saturday, before the firing was known publicly, Trump tweeted an attack on Strzok, Page, former FBI director James Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe.
“Will the FBI ever recover it’s once stellar reputation, so badly damaged by Comey, McCabe, Peter S and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, and other top officials now dismissed or fired?” Trump wrote on Twitter. “So many of the great men and women of the FBI have been hurt by these clowns and losers!”
Horowitz concluded that Strzok showed a “willingness to take official action” to hurt Trump’s electoral prospects, particularly in a text he sent telling Page “we’ll stop” Trump from being president.
Strzok, who was a deputy assistant director for counterintelligence at the bureau, has apologized for sending the messages and said they reflected personal views that did not affect his work. His attorney has said that had Strzok wanted to prevent Trump’s election, he could have leaked that Trump’s campaign was under investigation for possibly coordinating with Russia — a revelation that might have upended his bid to become president.
In another development Monday in the investigation of Russian meddling, a federal judge upheld the constitutionality of Mueller’s appointment, finding Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lawfully named the special counsel in May 2017.
The judge’s decision came in a challenge to an indictment brought by a Russian firm, Concord Management and Consulting, that is accused of funding an internet trolling operation targeting U.S. voters. The company has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a 2017 appointee of President Donald Trump to the District of Columbia, was the latest trial-level judge — including ones appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents — to cast doubt on arguments advanced by conservative legal thinkers led by Northwestern University law professor Steven Calabresi about the validity of Mueller’s appointment.