Peter Strzok sues FBI over firing
Peter Strzok, the former FBI investigator who declared in text messages his intent to “stop” the election of Donald Trump, is suing the bureau and the Justice Department. The complaint filed Tuesday alleges his firing was the result of “unrelenting pressure” from Trump, violating two constitutional amendments, reported the Hill. Strzok’s lawyers argue his virulently […]
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FBI agent Peter Strzok testifies before Congress July 12, 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)
Peter Strzok, the former FBI investigator who declared in text messages his intent to “stop” the election of Donald Trump, is suing the bureau and the Justice Department.
The complaint filed Tuesday alleges his firing was the result of “unrelenting pressure” from Trump, violating two constitutional amendments, reported the Hill.
Strzok’s lawyers argue his virulently anti-Trump political speech was protected by the First Amendment. And they contend the FBI also “deprived” him of his due process under the Fifth Amendment by denying him the right to appeal the firing decision.
They also asserted the FBI illegally leaked his texts.
“The concerted public campaign to disparage and, ultimately, fire Special Agent Strzok was enabled by the defendants’ deliberate and unlawful disclosure to the media of texts, intended to be private, from an FBI systems of records, in violation of the Privacy Act,” according to the court documents.
Strzok’s firing came after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report that the FBI agent displayed a “biased state of mind” in his investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information.
Meanwhile, the Guardian of London reports text messages in August 2016 between then FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and his British MI5 counterpart at the time, Jeremy Fleming, show collaboration between the two countries in the initiation of the Trump-Russia collusion probe.
The text exchange took place at the same time Strzok met in London with Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer. It was Downer who informed the FBI that Trump volunteer George Papadopoulos was approached by a “Russian agent,” Josef Mifsud, with an offer of “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
However, as WND reported, Papadopoulos says he’s eager to testify to the Senate about Mifsud. The one-time Trump volunteer charges former FBI Director James Comey falsely claimed Mifsud was a Russian agent. Sources close to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion probe say there’s evidence that Mifsud was working for “Western intelligence.”
‘We’ll stop’ Trump from winning
Strzok is best known for text messages critical of Trump sent during the 2016 presidential race to his paramour, then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Horowitz’s report revealed that in August 2016, when Strzok was still investigating the Clinton email case, he wrote in one text to Page that they will “stop” Trump from becoming president.
“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.
Horowitz, however, said his team found no evidence that decisions made during the Clinton investigation were influenced by political bias or improper influence. But he said the actions of Strzok and others cast a cloud over the department.
Strzok was the No. 2 official on the FBI Clinton probe and served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian interference until Horowitz’s review uncovered his bias.
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