FBI Agent Peter Strzok Fired
The FBI has fired agent Peter Strzok, the Washington Post first reported Monday. FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich ordered Strzok’s firing on Friday, according to Strzok’s lawyer.
In a statement, Strzok’s lawyer Aitan Goelman said the firing was a “deeply troubling” departure from established precedent, and that “the decision to terminate was taken in response to political pressure, and to punish Special Agent Strzok for political speech protected by the First Amendment, not on a fair and independent examination of the facts.” (Read Goelman’s full statement below.) Goelman said Bowdich had overruled the bureau’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which he said recommended a 60-day suspension and a demotion rather than Strzok’s firing. Strzok’s anti-Trump text messages with ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page — over which he was expelled from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team last year— have become the stuff of conspiratorial Republican hysteria, but there has been no evidence presented that the messages, nor any anti-Trump sentiment Strzok held personally, ever affected his work at the bureau.
In June, Strzok was escorted from the FBI building as part of “ongoing internal proceedings,” Goelman said at the time. “Despite being put through a highly questionable process, Pete has complied with every FBI procedure,” Goelman said. Strzok’s hearing before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees in July got heated and extremely personal.
Read Goelman’s full statement
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/wapo-fbi-agent-peter-strzok-fired