Monday the FBI fired Peter Strzok, the special agent at the center of controversy over anti-Trump text messages with another Bureau employee that ultimately got him removed from the Russia investigation. Likewise Strzok’s name had been at the center of crazy right-wing conspiracy theories of a ‘deep state‘ looking to take down Donald Trump and his administration.
Via NPR:
The FBI has fired an embattled special agent who was removed from the Russia inquiry after internal investigators discovered he had criticized then-candidate Donald Trump in text messages exchanged with another bureau official.
Peter Strzok had remained on the FBI payroll until his employment finally was terminated on Friday, his attorney said on Monday morning.
The bureau’s Office of Professional Responsibility had recommended that Strzok be reprimanded with a demotion and 60-day suspension but the office of Deputy FBI Director David Bowdich decided instead that Strzok should be fired altogether.
The FBI made no immediate comment about the news on Monday morning.
Strzok was removed from the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller last summer after an internal investigation revealed Strzok exchanging anti-Trump messages on a government issued phone. Those messages were part of a back-and-forth with another government employee Lisa Page who Strzok was having an affair with.
Strzok’s attorney Aitan Goelman said that FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich was the one who ordered Strzok fired Monday which came after (according to Goelman) the head of the office that normally handles disciplinary action recommending a 60-day suspension and demotion.
In turn Goelman released the following statement (via CNN):
“The decision to fire Special Agent Strzok is not only a departure from typical Bureau practice, but also contradicts (FBI) Director (Christopher) Wray’s testimony to Congress and his assurances that the FBI intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters,”
