On Monday, the FBI finally fired Peter Strzok, the former agent who sent thousands of anti-Trump texts to FBI lawyer Lisa Page during the 2016 presidential election.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, believes that was the right call.
"I would have fired him, too," Swalwell said Monday on Bloomberg News. "He has rights as an employee, and those should be exhausted, but I also believe as the brother of police officers and a former prosecutor, with the stakes this high, a presidential candidate being investigated, you can't talk that way, even if it didn't affect the investigation."
Other Democrats, however, believe Trump and top Republicans bullied Strzok out of his job. During the July hearings, Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committee cheered him during his testimony. After his dismissal, Rep. Bob Goodlatte's (R-VA) son tweeted that he was disappointed his dad's political grandstanding "ruined" Strzok's career. Others are supporting Strzok financially. A GoFundMe page that immediately after his firing has already passed a quarter of a million dollars.
Trump is not as concerned with the former FBI agent's future, tweeting, "finally!" upon hearing of Strzok's exit.
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
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Trump and Swalwell differ when it comes to the validity of the special counsel Russia investigation. Whereas Trump dismisses it as a hoax and a witch hunt, Swalwell is convinced that there is evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
“But I always invite people to take a step back and look at the big picture here," Swalwell said on Fox News in May. "Donald Trump for years had been working with the Russians. He brought people on his campaign who had ties to the Russians. They were meeting in foreign places, receiving information from Russians on his political opponent.”
While Swalwell believes Trump clearly obstructed justice, he stopped short of suggesting Democrats run on impeachment campaigns this fall.
"Right now, I think we just want to impeach the Republican ideas at the ballot box this midterm."
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