Former FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was fired in disgrace for his conduct during the 2016 election, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice; demanding back pay in what he says was a wrongful termination. Strzok’s antics during the 2016 election place the FBI in an embarrassing situation and tarnished its reputation as a leading and impartial investigative body. The FBI started the counterintelligence investigation that became the Russia probe headed by now-ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who removed Strzok from the case when he learned of his text messages and their contents. Strzok was a counterintelligence agent who was then reassigned to human resources upon their discovery (via NBC News):
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok filed suit against the Justice Department on Tuesday, arguing he was wrongly fired for sending private text messages that ripped Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Strzok was a senior FBI official who worked on the investigations into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state and any links between Russia interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller had him removed from his investigation into Trump and Russia after the anti-Trump texts emerged publicly.
Strzok was fired from the FBI late last year. His lawsuit says he was fired as a result of a “concerted public campaign to disparage and, ultimately, fire Special Agent Strzok" that "was enabled by the defendants’ deliberate and unlawful disclosure to the media of texts.”
Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who wrote derogatory text messages about Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run, sues the FBI and the Justice Department. Strzok alleges the bureau caved to "unrelenting pressure" from the president when it fired him. https://t.co/w9LfIYnDe5
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 6, 2019
Hack Peter Strzok wants back in at FBI
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) August 6, 2019
The guy who ran the Clinton and Russia probes, who said:
"God, Trump is a loathsome human"
"God, Hillary should win 100,000,000-0"
"This man can not be president"
On prospects of Trump becoming POTUS: "No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it."
Strzok also had an extramarital affair with bureau lawyer Lisa Page, sending tens of thousands of texts—most of them biased against Donald Trump. And all of this occurred during two of the most sensitive and politically charged investigations the FBI has seen in recent memory: the Russia collusion inquiry and the Hillary Clinton email fiasco.
Strzok and Page both worried that the bureau was going too hard on Clinton. They also discussed with also-fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe about an “insurance policy." Some see that as a reference to the Trump dossier, a Clinton-funded piece of political opposition research that was compiled by ex-MI6 spook Christopher Steele. Steele was contracted by the research firm Fusion GPS. Reportedly, this document was cited as credible evidence, despite being largely unverified, to secure a FISA spy warrant against Carter Page, an ex-foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign
Most damning was Strzok’s declaration that he would stop a Trump presidency. After his testimony before Congress about the texts, in which he said showed his patriotism, he was fired. His former mistress Page also testified, saying that the anti-Trump texts meant exactly what they say.