[ F.B.I. Agent
Peter Strzok
PERSON
, Who
Criticized Trump
PERSON
in
Texts
GPE
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PERSON
PaperPolitics|F.B.I. Agent
Peter Strzok
PERSON
, Who
Criticized Trump
PERSON
in
Texts
GPE
, Is FiredAdvertisementSupported byF.B.I., Agent
Peter Strzok
PERSON
, Who
Criticized Trump
PERSON
in
Texts
GPE
, Is FiredImagePeter Strzok, a top F.B.I. counterintelligence agent who was taken off the special counsel investigation after his disparaging texts about President
Trump
PERSON
were uncovered, was fired., CreditCreditT.J.
Kirkpatrick
PERSON
for The New York TimesBy
Adam Goldman
PERSON
and
Michael S. SchmidtAug
PERSON
.,
13
CARDINAL
, 2018WASHINGTON — Peter Strzok, the
F.B.I.
ORG
senior counterintelligence agent who disparaged President
Trump
PERSON
in inflammatory text messages and helped oversee the
Hillary Clinton
PERSON
email and
Russia
GPE
investigations, has been fired for violating bureau policies, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s lawyer said
Monday
DATE
., Mr.,
Trump
ORG
and his allies seized on the texts, — exchanged during the
2016
DATE
campaign with a former
F.B.I.
ORG
lawyer,
Lisa Page
PERSON
— in assailing the
Russia
GPE
investigation as an illegitimate “witch hunt., ” Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
, who rose over
20 years
DATE
at the
F.B.I.
ORG
to become one of its most experienced counterintelligence agents, was a key figure in
the early months
DATE
of the inquiry., Along with writing the texts, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
was accused of sending a highly sensitive search warrant to his personal email account., The
F.B.I.
ORG
had been under immense political pressure by Mr.
Trump
PERSON
to dismiss Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
, who was removed
last summer
DATE
from the staff of the special counsel,
Robert S. Mueller III
PERSON
., The president has repeatedly denounced Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
in posts on
Twitter
GPE
, and on
Monday
DATE
expressed satisfaction that he had been sacked., Mr.,
Trump’s
ORG
victory traces back to
June
DATE
, when Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s conduct was laid out in a wide-ranging inspector general’s report on how the
F.B.I.
ORG
handled the investigation of
Hillary Clinton’s
PERSON
emails in the run-up to the
2016
DATE
election., The report was critical of Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s conduct in sending the texts, and the bureau
’s Office of Professional Responsibility
ORG
said that Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
should be suspended for
60 days
DATE
and demoted., Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
had testified before the
House
ORG
in
July
DATE
about how he had not allowed his political views to interfere with the investigations he was overseeing., But Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s lawyer said the deputy director of the
F.B.I.
ORG
,
David Bowdich
PERSON
, had overruled
the Office of Professional Responsibility
ORG
and fired Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
., A spokeswoman for the
F.B.I.
ORG
did not respond to a message seeking comment about why Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
was dismissed rather than demoted., Firing Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
, however, removes a favorite target of Mr.
Trump
PERSON
from the ranks of the
F.B.I.
ORG
and gives Mr.
Bowdich
PERSON
and the
F.B.I.
ORG
director,
Christopher A. Wray
PERSON
, a chance to move beyond the president, ’s ire.,
Aitan Goelman
PERSON
, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s lawyer, denounced his client’s dismissal., “, The decision to fire Special Agent Strzok is not only a departure from typical bureau practice, but also contradicts Director
Wray’s
PERSON
testimony to
Congress
ORG
and his assurances that the F.B.I. intended to follow its regular process in this and all personnel matters,” Mr.
Goelman
PERSON
said.“This decision should be deeply troubling to all
Americans
NORP
,” Mr.
Goelman
PERSON
added., “, A lengthy investigation and multiple rounds of congressional testimony failed to produce a shred of evidence that Special Agent Strzok’s personal views ever affected his work.”Mr.,
Strzok’s
ORG
text exchanges with Ms.
Page
PERSON
demonstrated animosity toward Mr.
Trump
PERSON
., In one, Ms.
Page
PERSON
asks:
Trump
ORG
is “not ever going to become president, right?, Right?!, ”, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
responds: “, No., No he won’t., We’ll stop it., ”, The inspector general, who uncovered the messages, found no evidence that the pair imposed their political views on their investigative decisions but cited that exchange as “not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects.”The report by the inspector general,
Michael E. Horowitz
PERSON
, that preceded Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s firing not only criticized his conduct in sending the texts but also his use of personal email accounts to handle sensitive information., In addition, the inspector general criticized Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s decision not to move swiftly to examine new emails related to the
Clinton
PERSON
investigation
just weeks
DATE
before the
2016
DATE
election., Mr.,
Horowitz
PERSON
said in his report that he was “deeply troubled” by the text messages.,
Hundreds
CARDINAL
exchanged over
months
DATE
were found in which the pair disparaged Mr.
Trump
PERSON
and, to a lesser extent, Mrs.
Clinton
PERSON
, exchanged work gossip and bantered., On
Twitter
GPE
, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
said he was “deeply saddened by this decision,” adding, “, It has been an honor to serve my country and work with the fine men and women of the FBI.”Mr., Strzok became emblematic of Mr.
Trump’s
PERSON
unfounded assertions that a so-called deep state of bureaucrats opposed to him was undermining his presidency., Mr.
Trump
PERSON
contended that Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
targeted the president and accused Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
of being “treasonous” and a “disgrace., ” Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
told lawmakers that he never leaked information about the
Russia
GPE
inquiry, which could have upended the election and hurt Mr.
Trump
PERSON
’s chances of becoming president., After Mr.
Horowitz
PERSON
uncovered the texts, Mr.
Mueller
PERSON
, who had by then taken over the investigation, removed Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
from his team., He was reassigned to the
F.B.I.’s
ORG
human resources division., Ms.
Page
PERSON
, who had left Mr.
Mueller
PERSON
’s team before the discovery of the text messages, quit the F.B.I. in
May.
DATE
, The inspector general’s report also took issue with the reaction by Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
and other
F.B.I.
ORG
officials to the discovery of possible new evidence in the
Clinton
PERSON
investigation, known internally as
Midyear Exam
PERSON
, in
late September 2016
DATE
on a laptop that belonged to the disgraced politician
Anthony D. Weiner
PERSON
, the husband of a top
Clinton
PERSON
aide., At the time, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
was in the early stages of investigating whether any
Trump
ORG
associates had conspired with
Russia
GPE
’s interference in the presidential election, and
nearly a month
DATE
passed before agents and analysts began to act on the emails found on Mr.
Weiner
PERSON
’s laptop., Mr.
Horowitz
PERSON
could not rule out that Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
had slow-walked the examination of the new emails to help Mrs.
Clinton
PERSON
, ’s presidential bid.“Under, these circumstances, we did not have confidence that
Strzok’s
ORG
decision to prioritize the
Russia
GPE
investigation over following up on the
Midyear-
DATE
related investigative lead discovered on the
Weiner
PERSON
laptop was free from bias,” he wrote., The delays were merely the “result of bureaucratic snafus,” Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
’s lawyer wrote
last month
DATE
in
USA
GPE
Today
DATE
., But the justifications for the delay were “unpersuasive” and had “far-reaching consequences,” the inspector general said.,
James B. Comey
PERSON
, the former
F.B.I.
ORG
director, has told investigators that if he had known about the emails earlier, it might have influenced his decision to alert
Congress
ORG
to their existence days before the election., In addition, the inspector general said that Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
had forwarded a proposed search warrant to his personal email account., The inspector general said the email, which included a draft of the search warrant affidavit, contained information that appeared to be under seal., In a heated congressional hearing
last month
DATE
, Mr.
Strzok
PERSON
expressed “significant regret” for the texts and rebutted the president
’s
ORG
attacks on the
Russia
GPE
inquiry., “, This investigation is not politically motivated; it is not a witch hunt; it is not a hoax,” he said., Mr.,
Strzok’s
ORG
dismissal was not unexpected., He is the
second
ORDINAL
senior
F.B.I.
ORG
agent to be fired as a result of the inspector general’s investigation., In
March
DATE
,
Andrew G. McCabe
PERSON
, the former deputy director, was fired after the inspector general repeatedly faulted him for misleading investigators., The firing was politically motivated, Mr.
McCabe
PERSON
has said, as an effort to discredit him as a witness in the special counsel investigation., Both men were fired before they were eligible for their pension and health benefits., Mr., Strzok,
48
DATE
, a graduate of
Georgetown University
ORG
, served as an officer in the
Army
ORG
before he joined the F.B.I., He held several key positions in the
F.B.I.
ORG
, eventually becoming a top deputy in the counterintelligence division., He handled many important espionage cases including
one
CARDINAL
involving a former
C.I.A.
ORG
officer suspected of working for
China
GPE
and a group of
Russian
NORP
spies who had been working undercover in
the United States
GPE
., Follow
Adam Goldman
PERSON
and
Michael S. Schmidt
PERSON
on Twitter: @adamgoldmanNYT and
@nytmike
PERSON
., A version of this article appears in print on , on
Page A1
ORG
of the
New York
GPE
edition with the headline:, F.B.I. Banishes An Agent Who Reviled Trump., Order Reprints |, Today’s Paper | SubscribeRelated CoverageF.B.I. Agent Defends Actions in
Russia
GPE
Inquiry in
Contentious House
FAC
,
TestimonyJuly
ORG
12, 2018ImageReport
Criticizes Comey
ORG
but Finds No Bias in F.B.I. Decision on
ClintonJune
ORG
14
PRODUCT
, 2018ImageAndrew McCabe, a Target of Trump’s F.B.I. Scorn,, Is Fired Over Candor QuestionsMarch 16,
2018ImageAdvertisementSite IndexGo
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