FBI official Peter Strzok was finally fired Friday, more than a year after his anti-Trump text messages with his mistress, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, were discovered.
Strzok, who played a lead role in both the Clinton email and the Trump/Russia investigations, displayed extreme bias against then-candidate Trump in the now-infamous text messages.
Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement on Monday that FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich ordered the firing on Friday, a departure from the usual disciplinary practice. Bowdich “overruled” the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which had decided Strzok should face only a demotion and 60-day suspension.
Goelman complained that the move belies the FBI’s repeated assurances that Strzok would be afforded “the normal process.”
“This isn’t the normal process in any way more than name,” Goelman said.
He added, “The decision to fire Special Agent Strzok is not only a departure from typical Bureau practice, but also contradicts Director Wray’s testimony to Congress and his assurances that the FBI intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters.”
The FBI declined to comment.
President Trump and congressional Republicans have hammered Strzok for months for his role in the FBI’s handling of both the Clinton email investigation and the Trump/Russia investigations.
In a tweet over the weekend, the president blistered Strzok and Page, along with the disgraced former director and deputy director, referring to them as “clowns and losers!”
…..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? So many of the great men and women of the FBI have been hurt by these clowns and losers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2018
The president immediately seized on Strzok’s firing, tweeting that the witch hunt he helped start should be dropped:
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
Via Fox News:
Strzok was removed from the special counsel probe after the discovery that he exchanged anti-Trump and other politically charged messages with colleague and lover Lisa Page.
In June, he was then removed from his FBI office amid the release of a scathing DOJ inspector general report that largely dealt with the Justice Department and FBI’s handling of the investigation into Clinton’s private email server but uncovered messages that “appeared to mix political opinion with discussions” about that probe — namely, those between Strzok and Page.
The IG ultimately found no evidence that the bias among the several FBI agents impacted prosecutorial decisions in the Clinton email probe. But Republicans have repeatedly raised concerns that anti-Trump bias played a role in the start of the investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump associates in 2016.
In one damning text exchange, Strzok talked about stopping Trump from becoming president.
It referred to a conversation and a meeting that had just taken place in “Andy’s” (Deputy FBI Dir. Andrew McCabe’s) office. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office,” Stzok wrote. He added that “there’s no way he gets elected. … I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. We in the FBI can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Strzok, a 22-year veteran of the Bureau, was relegated to a position in human resources and removed from the Mueller probe after his politically charged messages were uncovered. Page resigned in May.
FBI fires Peter Strzok over anti-Trump text messages https://t.co/JXUeNWurvw @AmericaNewsroom pic.twitter.com/rl6ZoWYjVR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 13, 2018
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