Left wing nut Peter Strzok is fired, and this former FBI agent is shedding no tears for him

[Deplorable Redneck]

I received the news with zero emotion. Former FBI senior
executive Peter Strzok had been fired.

My custom when a fellow law enforcement colleague has fallen on
hard times or gotten caught up in bad circumstances, even of
their own design, has typically been to feel empathy. And yet
Strzok’s deserved firing has left me feeling empty, hollow, and
numb. Yes, some form of justice has been served. Strzok’s
conduct while overseeing two supremely consequential FBI
investigations was unconscionable. He tarnished the badge and
committed the ultimate bureau “sin”— he embarrassed the FBI.

Strzok was the epitome of a “blue-flamer," FBI parlance for a
ruthless promotion-seeker. He may well serve as a cautionary
tale during future reviews of the Robert Mueller-era management
program named “Up of Out," that long unpopular administrative
contrivance sought to incentivize junior employee migrations to
Washington D.C. and FBI headquarters. Hell, if you can’t attract
experienced street agents to staff cubicles at headquarters,
simply provide housing and per diems and promise promotional
considerations not available to the humps laboring in FBI field
offices to callow youth— or so the logic goes.

But all things considered, Strzok is not a loathsome character
in this political melodrama. He is pitiable. My initial
assessment of him was that he was a hapless victim of
circumstance, a forlorn character in a Greek tragedy. The
president, who characteristically tweeted his unconstrained glee
this morning at Strzok’s misfortune, hasn’t helped. His
continual bashing of imperfect FBI officials has a more than
tawdry appearance and can certainly be interpreted as potential
obstruction of justice in the Russian collusion investigation
that Strzok once led.

But President Trump is a politician. And though I have oft
cautioned there may be no there there in the case of his
campaign's alleged collusion with the Kremlin, there are
remedies for his actions, either at the ballot box or through
the political process of impeachment.

The only remedy for Strzok’s disgraceful actions was just
summarily levied— firing. And he ironically has met the same
fate as his mentor, former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, who
was fired for lying under oath, by the attorney general, after a
recommendation from the inspector general’s office. In fact, the
only true “collusion” that may ever be determined could well
have been perpetrated by McCabe, Strzok, and FBI attorney Lisa
Page, as evidenced by those infamous text message exchanges.

Look, I have never ascribed to the theory that a pernicious
governmental “deep state” exists and I have complete confidence
in the IG process and findings. Michael Horowitz has determined
that there were no material actions conducted in furtherance of
a scheme to impact the 2016 election. Thus, Russian efforts
aside, nothing related to James Comey’s FBI was determined to
have purposely impeded the will of the American people who
elected Trump to be their president.

That doesn’t mean some in the FBI, like Strzok, didn’t attempt
to do just that. Finding no evidence of material acts does not
mitigate the reprehensible discussions that apparently took
place between Strzok, McCabe, and a small cabal of pathetic FBI
senior executives. And Strzok’s recent graceless appearance
before Congress, when called to testify, assuaged none of us who
had concerns about his judgment and fealty to the Constitution.

I weep no tears of sorrow for Strzok’s professional demise. The
damage he has done to the reputations of governmental
institutions was tangible and more lasting than some would make
you believe about a few ill-advised presidential tweets.

Peter Strzok broke our cardinal rule as FBI agents. He deeply
embarrassed the Bureau. He had to go.

James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) worked in the FBI for 25
years. He is a law enforcement analyst for CNN and an adjunct
assistant professor in homeland security and criminal justice at
St. John's University.

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