Donald Trump finally got his wish. FBI agent Peter Strzok, who oversaw both the early part of the Russia probe in 2016 and the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, has been fired from the agency. Strzok became a favorite target of Trump's rage tweets ever since personal texts were uncovered in which he indicated his preference that Trump not become president.
Strzok's lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said the dismissal was ordered Friday by FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich, an aberration from the usual process. Normally, firings are handled by a different office within the agency. FBI Director Christopher Wray originally promised the disciplinary process for Strzok would be done "by the book," writes the Washington Post, but Goelman said Strzok's termination wasn't "the normal process in any way."
Instead, to an outsider, it looks more like Trump simply claimed one more victim in his march to discredit the bureau. The exit of Strzok, who served as deputy assistant director for counterintelligence at the agency, followed the dismissals of both former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who were also intimately involved with the Clinton email investigation.
[Inspector General Michael] 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.
In a statement, Goelman said the decision should be “deeply troubling to all Americans” after the internal investigation and multiple Congressional hearings “failed to produce a shred of evidence” that Strzok’s personal views affected his work in any way. He said his client’s termination came in response to “political pressure” and was an effort to punish Strzok for “political speech protected by the First Amendment.”
