Fired today by the FBI, 48-year-old. 22-year FBI veteran Peter Strzok was officially let go by the department almost one month to the day after his combative July 12 testimony July in a joint meeting of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. Strzok, who was an instrumental part of former Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email investigation, was caught exchanging anti-Trump emails and text messages with this mistress FBI attorney Lisa Page during the 2016 presidential campaign. If Strzok’s affair with Page were not bad enough, both Strzok and Page pledged their secret honor to prevent then candidate Donald Trump from becoming president. “He’s not ever going to become president, right?” Page asked Strzok in 2016. “No, no he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok told Page. Strzok insisted aggressively in his opening statement July 12, he held no bias against Trump while working at the FBI.
Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee did everything possible to accept Strzok’s outrageous excuses during the eight-hour hearing. “I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role but I truly believe that today’s hearing is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart,” said Strzok July 12. When an FBI agent opines about Russian President Vlaidimr Putin it tells the whole story. Strzok was fired today for cause because he was out-of-control, using company time engaged in wasteful political discussions. Having a sexual liaison was enough to get former CIA Director David Petraeus fired Nov. 9, 2012, why would it not be enough for Strzok? Working closely with former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe on the Hillary email investigation, Strrzok showed no integrity.
Strzok held far more than bias toward Trump while working on the Hillary email investigation, eventually assigned to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to investigate Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia. “He’s an idiot like Trump,” Strzok told Page. “Figure they cancel each other out,” referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Hillary chief rival in 2016. Yet Strzok’s attorney Aitan Goelman said Strzok was treated unfairly by the FBI. Goelman doesn’t acknowledge that once Strzok’s anti-Trump texts and emails came out, he was removed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Strzok defended himself at the July 12 hearing saying he’s never engaged in bias while working 22 years at the FBI. Strzok knows that his text and email exchanges with Page prompted Mueller to take him off Trump’s collusion probe. Because Szrzok says he wasn’t biased, doesn’t make it so.
Strzok’s firing today prompted his attorney to go on a PR offensive, calling the FBI out on its personnel policies. “This isn’t the normal process in any way more than name,” Goelman said. “This decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans,” hinting that it was Trump’s influence that prompted Strzok’s firing. Strzok at his July 12 hearing placed himself in the center of Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice controversy. Just like when Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey May 9, 2017, all six-foot-ten of him, Strrzok now suggests his firing was about obstructing Mueller’s investigation. Strzok’s statement about Putin benefiting from the July 12 hearing tells you all you need to know. Strzok’s good at making excuses. His affair with Page and reams of anti-Trump texts and emails showed how he preferred spending his time at the FBI.
When it comes to moral turpitude for a federal law enforcement officer, Strzok meets the definition. Aggressively defending himself at the July 12 hearing, Strzok had no problem protesting his innocence. “At no time in any of these texts did those personal beliefs ever enter into the realm of any action I took,” Strrzok said at the hearing. Strrzok caught the attention of House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy. “I don’t give a damn what you appreciate Agent Strzok,” said Gowdy. “I don’t appreciate having an FBI agent with an unprecedented level of animus working on two major investigations in 2016,” Gowdy said in response to Strzok’s denial that his bias affected his work. When you consider that Strzok lacked the judgment to know his work with Mueller could compromise the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion it’s astounding.
When Strzok testified July 12 before the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, it was astonishing his lack of contrition for betraying the public trust in his position with the FBI. Stating emphatically he had no bias in his work investigating Hillary and Trump exposed the scary character of one of the FBI’s top brass. Only FBI Director James Comey showed more hubris in his many arrogant displays in Congressional and Senate Oversight Committees. Democrats and members of the media hoped key members of the FBI like Comey, McCabe and Strxok would not hamper Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion. Strzok’s hateful texts and emails showed that the FBI under Comey also held extreme prejudice against Trump. Whether admitted to or not, Obama’s FBI, Justice Department and National Security Agency were all out to get Trump.
