Not the best or brightest FBI agent Peter Strzok fired over anti-Trump texts

[Deplorable Redneck]

Deer Peter,

Don't fuck with the smart kids.

/S/

M.A.G.A.

The FBI has fired agent Peter Strzok, who helped lead the
bureau’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016
presidential election until officials discovered that he had
been sending anti-Trump texts.

Aitan Goelman, Strzok’s attorney, said FBI Deputy Director David
L. Bowdich ordered the firing Friday, even though the director
of the FBI office that usually handles employee discipline had
decided that Strzok, 48, should face only a demotion and a 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.”

Strzok wrote on Twitter, “Deeply saddened by this decision. It
has been an honor to serve my country and work with the fine men
and women of the FBI.”

The FBI declined to comment.

The termination is a remarkable downfall for Strzok, a 22-year
member 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 high-profile
investigations: the Russia case and the inquiry 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 special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s
investigation of the president’s campaign, and the FBI took
steps to remove Strzok from its ranks.

[FBI agent Peter Strzok feuds with GOP critics at hearing]

Conservatives on Monday hailed the move. President Trump used it
to suggest that the Russia investigation should be dropped and
the Clinton case redone.

“Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI — finally,”
Trump tweeted. “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.

Minutes later, he added, “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!”

5:36
The fieriest moments from Peter Strzok's hearing
The House hearing with FBI agent Peter Strzok devolved into
personal attacks, partisan exchanges and a perjury accusation.
Here's a look at the biggest moments. (Jenny Starrs /The
Washington Post)

The reaction among Democrats was more understated. Rep. Eric
Swalwell (Calif.) said Strzok’s firing did not undercut
Mueller’s investigation, which has 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.

Agent's precarious position
Strzok’s team created a GoFundMe page with a lengthy statement
to raise money for his “legal costs and lost income” and said on
the site that his firing was “apparently driven by political
pressure.” The site had raised more than $65,000 by late Monday
evening.

Because Strzok was a senior-level FBI employee, and because the
FBI’s No. 2 official directed his firing, he has few 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 Justice Department Inspector General Michael E.
Horowitz told Mueller that the lead agent on his team had been
exchanging anti-Trump messages with an FBI lawyer. The next day,
Mueller expelled Strzok from the group.

The lawyer, Lisa Page, also had been a part of Mueller’s team,
although she left a few weeks earlier and no longer works for
the FBI. She and Strzok had been having an affair.

Trump has previously derided the pair as “FBI lovers,” and he
and his allies have pointed to their conduct in an attempt to
discredit the Mueller inquiry. On Saturday, before the firing
was known publicly, Trump tweeted an attack on Strzok, Page,
former FBI director James B. 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. “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 presidential
bid.

Denying acting on views
At a congressional hearing last month, Strzok sparred with
Republican lawmakers who raised questions about his character
and his marriage. He said that there was “no evidence of bias in
my professional actions” and that his having to testify was
“just another victory notch in [Russian President Vladimir]
Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to
tear America apart.”

Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building in June and
effectively relieved of work responsibilities, although he
remained an FBI employee as he and his attorney challenged the
effort to dismiss him. On July 24, they made a final pitch to
Candice M. Will, who leads the FBI’s Office of Professional
Responsibility.

Goelman said Will ultimately decided that Strzok should face a
demotion and a 60-day suspension and be subjected to a “last
chance” agreement. That would have put him on thin ice if he
were to commit another offense. But Goelman said Bowdich
overruled that decision and ordered Strzok’s termination.

During a June congressional hearing, FBI Director Christopher A.
Wray said that Strzok had been referred to the Office of
Professional Responsibility — which he called the bureau’s
“independent disciplinary arm” — and that officials would “not
hesitate to hold people strictly accountable.” Wray promised
that the process would be “done by the book.”

Strzok is the third high-ranking FBI official involved in the
Clinton and Russia investigations to be fired amid an intensely
political backdrop. Trump removed Comey as the bureau’s director
and said he did so thinking of the Russia case. Attorney General
Jeff Sessions later removed Comey’s deputy, McCabe, after the
inspector general alleged that he lied about a media disclosure
related to Clinton.

McCabe — who, unlike Comey, could not be removed at the will of
the president — has said his termination was a politically
motivated attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation. He is
facing a criminal inquiry by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s
office in the District of Columbia. McCabe’s attorney wrote
Monday of Strzok’s firing: “Another patriot, public servant, and
defender of the FBI fired to appease the WH,” using an
abbreviation for White House.

It is possible that others could face discipline. The inspector
general identified five FBI employees, including Strzok and
Page, with some connection to the Clinton email case who had
exchanged messages expressing hostility toward Trump, support
for Clinton or other political views. Each was referred to the
FBI for possible violations of the bureau’s code of conduct.

The inspector general’s office said it found no evidence “to
connect the political views expressed in these messages to the
specific investigative decisions” in the Clinton case. Its
report singled out Strzok, though, for prioritizing the Russia
investigation in October 2016 instead of following up on a
Clinton-related lead. Strzok’s attorney has disputed that Strzok
did not pursue the Clinton lead aggressively.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-agent-
peter-strzok-fired-over-anti-trump-texts/2018/08/13/be98f84c-
8e8b-11e8-b769-
e3fff17f0689_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.af82a8731520

Tags: Opinion Beltway Confidential Blog Contributors Peter
Strzok FBI Donald Trump Leftists Liberalism Failure
Dishonest Obama Idiot Clinton Democrat Ignorant Fool
Payback Is A Bitch