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Peter P. Strzok II (born c. 1970) (Template:IPA-en, like "struck”) is a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent currently assigned to its Human Resources Branch. Strzok was the Section Chief of the Counterespionage Section (within the Counterintelligence Division) in 2015 and 2016 during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. In 2016, Strzok was Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division (i.e. number two official in that division) and led the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

In June and July 2017, Strzok was the top FBI agent working on Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation into any links or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. Mueller removed Strzok from the Russia investigation when he became aware of criticisms of Trump contained in personal text messages sent by Strzok to a colleague, and questions arose about whether political bias might have tainted Strzok's work during the Mueller investigation as well as previous ones. These text messages received widespread coverage in the press and Congress, and this coverage has been described by The New York Times as part of an aggressive campaign by Republican congressmen and conservative media to discredit the Mueller investigation, while the Department of Justice has defended Mueller's response to the text messages.

Early life, education, and FBI assignments

Strzok attended high school in Minnesota. He earned a bachelors degree from Georgetown University in 1991 as well as a master's degree in 2013. He is married to Melissa Hodgman, an associate director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His father was a longtime member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Like this father, Strzok served as an officer in the United States Army before joining the FBI in the 1990's as an intelligence research specialist.

Strzok was serving as the section chief of the Counterespionage Section (within the Counterintelligence Division) by July 2015. He led a team of a dozen investigators to examine Hillary Clinton's emails, including reviewing emails discovered just a few days before Election Day, and helped to draft public statements about it.

As Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division (i.e. ranking number two in that division), Strzok oversaw investigations involving Russia and China. He led the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, and examined both the Donald Trump–Russia dossier and the Russian role in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak. He also oversaw the bureau's interviews with then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, later convicted of lying during those interviews.

In June 2017, Strzok became the top FBI agent working for Robert Mueller's 2017 Special Counsel investigation looking into coordination between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. He served in that position until August 2017, at which time he began working in the Human Resources Branch. According to The New York Times, Strzok was "considered one of the most experienced and trusted FBI counterintelligence investigators," as well as "one of the Bureau's top experts on Russia" according to CNN.

Political controversies

Assistance in drafting statement about Clinton investigation

In April 2016, it was reported that Strzok had changed draft language being prepared for then-FBI Director James Comey, which had described Clinton's actions as "grossly negligent", which could be a criminal offense, to "extremely careless". Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley publicly questioned why the change was made after receiving the documents. The draft was reviewed and corrected by several people and its creation was a team process.

DOJ Inspector General's inquiry

At the request of Republicans in Congress, the Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) began an inquiry in January 2017 into how the FBI handled investigations related to the election. Fox News reported that a source close to the inquiry said it was examining Strzok's participation in politically sensitive matters, and the IG announced it would issue a report by March or April 2018.

Discovery of text messages and removal from Mueller investigation

During the IG's investigation, it examined thousands of text messages exchanged using FBI-issued cell phones between Strzok and Lisa Page, a trial attorney on Mueller's team. The texts were sent between August 15, 2015 and December 1, 2016. At the request of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the DOJ turned over 375 of these text messages to the House Judiciary Committee. Some of the texts disparaged then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Chelsea Clinton, Attorney General in the Obama administration Eric Holder, former Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley, and Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. For example, Strzok called Trump an "idiot" in August 2015, and wrote "God Hillary should win 100,000,000 - 0" in March 2016. Allegedly, Strzok and Page had been using the backdrop of discussing the Clinton investigation as a cover for their personal communications during an affair.

Strzok's colleagues and a former Trump administration official said that Strzok had not previously shown any overt political bias. An associate of his says the political parts of the text messages were especially related to Trump's criticism of the FBI's investigation of the Clinton emails. According to FBI guidelines, agents are allowed to have and express political opinions as individuals. Former FBI and DOJ officials told The Hill that it was not uncommon for agents like Strzok to hold political opinions and still conduct an impartial investigation. Several agents asserted that Mueller had removed Strzok to protect the integrity of the special counsel's Russia investigation. Strzok was not punished following his reassignment. Defenders of Strzok and Page in the FBI said no professional misconduct between them occurred.

Reactions

Strzok's personal messages to Lisa Page have raised questions about whether his political bias may have tainted his various investigations, and have been used by Republican congressmen to attack the impartiality of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia during the election. The New York Times described an "aggressive campaign" to "undermine the Mueller investigation", "discredit the inquiry", and protect President Trump by conservative media and Republican congressmen. Republican Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended Mueller and his work, and has said that he would only fire Mueller if there was actual cause under DOJ regulations, and that no such cause existed. Rosenstein also praised Mueller for removing Strzok from the Russian investigation itself.

Congressional scrutiny

In an August 2016 text message, Strzok told Page: "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office—that there's no way gets elected—but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40 ... " This message attracted scrutiny from Republicans, including Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, who stated: "Some of these texts appear to go beyond merely expressing a private political opinion, and appear to cross the line into taking some official action to create an 'insurance policy' against a Trump presidency." However, sources close to Strzok and Page told The Wall Street Journal that Strzok was not contemplating using the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to harm Trump's candidacy, but rather emphasizing the need to aggressively pursue any such leads before the election "because some of Mr. Trump's associates could land administration jobs and it was important to know if they had colluded with Russia."

Rhetoric from Fox News and Trump allies

In the wake of the publication of Strzok's messages, Fox News intensified its anti-Mueller rhetoric, and its political commentator Jesse Watters said that the investigation now amounted to a coup against President Trump, if "the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes". One guest on Fox's talk and news show "Outnumbered", Kevin Jackson, speculated that Strzok's messages were evidence of a plot by FBI agents to make "an assassination attempt or whatever" against President Trump, which other Fox hosts quickly contradicted and said was not "credible". Fox News figures referred to the investigation as "corrupt", "crooked" and "illegitimate", and likened the FBI to the KGB, the Soviet-era spy organization that routinely tortured and summarily executed people. Political scientists and scholars of coups described the Fox News rhetoric as scary and dangerous. Experts on coups rejected that the Mueller investigation amounted to a coup; rather the Fox News rhetoric was dangerous to democracy and mirrored the kind of rhetoric that occurs before purges.

Some observers argued that the Fox News rhetoric was intended to discredit the Mueller investigation and sway President Donald Trump to fire Mueller. Sources close to the White House told Politico that the rhetoric was intended to give Trump political cover to issue pardons to those involved in the Mueller investigation.

Former prosecutor and conservative pundit Andrew C. McCarthy of National Review says that Strzok probably did not mishandle any investigations into either Hillary Clinton or a Trump-Russia connection.

Controversy regarding the leak of private messages

The decision by the DOJ to publicize the private messages was by itself controversial. Further statements by DOJ spokeswomen revealed that some reporters had copies of the texts even before the DOJ invited the press to review them, but the DOJ did not authorize the pre-release. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have asked for a review of the circumstances under which the texts were leaked to select press outlets.

References

1. "Fairfax Home Sales". The Washington Post. January 8, 2004. to Peter P. Strzok II and Melissa R. Hodgman
2. ^ Wilber, Del Quentin; Sonne, Paul (December 3, 2017). "FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Had Key Role in Clinton Email Investigation". The Wall Street Journal. Peter Strzok, 47 years old, was one of the highest-ranking agents at the bureau and was considered one of its most experienced counterintelligence experts.
3. ^ Browne, Pamela. "Fired FBI official at center of Flynn, Clinton, dossier controversies revealed", Fox News (December 2, 2017).
4. ^ Jarrett, Laura; Perez, Evan (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey description of Clinton". CNN. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
5. Doering, Christopher. "Thieves see ag trade secrets as ripe for picking", Des Moines Register, March 7, 2016.
6. ^ Hosenball, Alex (September 29, 2017). "Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors". ABC News.
7. Bertrand, Natasha (August 16, 2017). "A top FBI investigator has unexpectedly stepped away from special counsel Mueller's Russia probe". Business Insider. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
8. ^ Price, Greg. "Will Trump Fire Mueller? Democrats Want to Protect Special Counsel Amid FBI Bias Cries", Newsweek (December 6, 2017).
9. ^ Bertrand, Natasha (December 9, 2017). "'He was thrown to the wolves': Former FBI agents defend ousted Mueller investigator as Trump attacks 'rigged' DOJ". Business Insider. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
10. ^ Hains, Tim. “GOP Sen. Lankford: Anti-Trump Texts Do Not Discredit Entire Mueller Probe”, Real Clear Politics (December 17, 2017).
11. ^ Gerstein, Josh (December 12, 2017). "In texts, FBI agents on Russia probe called Trump an 'idiot'". Politico.
12. ^ “Text Message Raise Questions Of Political Bias By FBI Employees", CBS Miami via MSN (December 13, 2017): "Newly revealed text messages are raising questions about the political bias of two key FBI employees who worked on both the Mueller Russia probe and last year's Hillary Clinton email investigation."
13. ^ Vazquez, Maegan. "Mnuchin says he has no reason to think Trump will fire Mueller", CNN (December 17, 2017): " after learning he had exchanged text messages with an FBI attorney that showed bias against then-candidate Trump."
14. ^ Fandos, Nicholas; Savage, Charlie (December 13, 2017). "Justice Dept. Official Defends Mueller as Republicans Try to Discredit Him". New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein adamantly defended the character and impartiality of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, as he came head-to-head on Wednesday with an increasingly aggressive campaign by Republicans to discredit the inquiry. The Republicans' effort received a fresh jolt from the release one night earlier of text messages exchanged last year between an F.B.I. agent, Peter Strzok, and an F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page, describing the possibility of an election victory by President Trump as 'terrifying' and saying that Hillary Clinton 'just has to win.' Mr. Mueller removed Mr. Strzok from the Russia investigation as soon as he learned of the texts, a step that Mr. Rosenstein praised. Nonetheless, Republicans used the messages as fodder to attack the impartiality of Mr. Mueller during an appearance by Mr. Rosenstein before the House Judiciary Committee. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
15. St. Cloud Times, p. 38 (May 15, 1987).
16. "$25K GUAA Participation Challenge", Georgetown University, accessed November 7, 2017.
17. Bucher, Chris (December 2, 2017). "Peter Strzok & Lisa Page: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
18. Fonrouge, Gabrielle and Schultz, Marisa. "Feds eye anti-Trump FBI agent over shady moves in Hillary email probe", New York Post (December 5, 2017).
19. Democrat and Chronicle, p. 10 (November 17, 2010).
20. Strzok, Peter. "Peter P. Strzok: 50-year difference in Iran", Fayetteville Observer (September 3, 2016).
21. ^ Bertrand, Natasha (August 16, 2017). "A top FBI investigator has unexpectedly stepped away from special counsel Mueller's Russia probe". Business Insider. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
22. ^ Schmidt, Michael et al. "Mueller Removed Top Agent in Russia Inquiry Over Possible Anti-Trump Texts", The New York Times, December 2, 2017.
23. ^ Schmidt, Michael S.; Goldman, Adam; Lichtblau, Eric (April 22, 2017). "Comey Tried to Shield the F.B.I. From Politics. Then He Shaped an Election". The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
24. "Mueller removed FBI agent from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts: reports"., Reuters (December 2, 2017).
25. Sheth, Sonam (December 4, 2017). "Strzok authorized the FBI to launch the Russia investigation". Business Insider. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
26. Levine, Mike. "FBI agent removed from Russia probe had key role in controversial remarks on Clinton", ABC News (December 4, 2017).
27. Darrah, Nicole (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent fired from Russia probe oversaw Flynn interviews, softened Comey language on Clinton email actions". Fox News. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
28. Barrett, Devlin and Sullivan, Sean. "Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies", The Washington Post, December 6, 2017.
29. Prokupecz, Shimon. "Special counsel brings on FBI official who oversaw Clinton email investigation", CNN, July 13, 2017.
30. Kutner, Max (December 2, 2017). "Why Mueller threw an agent off the Trump-Russia probe". Newsweek. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
31. Darrah, Nicole (December 5, 2017). "FBI agent fired from Russia probe oversaw Flynn interviews, softened Comey language on Clinton email actions". Fox News.
32. ^ Johnson, Kevin (December 12, 2017). "Peter Strzok, FBI agent removed from Robert Mueller's Russia probe, called Trump an 'idiot'". USA Today.
33. Jarrett, Laura. "Justice Dept. offers up key witness in Russia probe as House Intel Chair threatens contempt", CNN, December 4, 2017.
34. ^ Demirjian, Karoun; Barrett, Devlin (December 2, 2017). "Top FBI official assigned to Mueller's Russia probe said to have been removed after sending anti-Trump texts". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
35. Perez, Evan (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent removed from Mueller investigation". CNN. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
36. Delk, Josh (December 14, 2017). "FBI agent removed from Russia probe also lambasted Sanders, Holder in texts". TheHill. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
37. Wilber, Del Quentin (December 14, 2017). "Full Texts: FBI Employees' Messages Bashed Trump, Sanders, Congress". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
38. Wilber, Del Quentin (December 14, 2017). "FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Held Dim Views of Holder, Sanders". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
39. Barrett, Devlin (December 15, 2017). "FBI officials' text message about Hillary Clinton said to be a cover story for romantic affair". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
40. Williams, Katie (December 12, 2017). "FBI agent becomes GOP public enemy No. 1". The Hill. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
41. Wilber, Del Quentin (December 2, 2017). "Mueller Reassigned Top Aide on Russia Probe After Anti-Trump Texts". The Wall Street Journal.
42. Graham, David. "The Strange Tale of Peter Strzok", The Atlantic, December 7, 2017: "Wray said during testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that, although he had been reassigned, Strzok had not been punished".
43. Wilber, Del Quentin (December 18, 2017). "In FBI Agent's Account, 'Insurance Policy' Text Referred to Russia Probe". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
44. ^ Schmidt, Samantha (December 18, 2017). "A 'coup in America?' Fox News escalates anti-Mueller rhetoric". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
45. Beavers, Olivia (December 17, 2017). "Fox News host called 'irresponsible' after suggesting US facing a 'coup' from Mueller". TheHill. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
46. ^ Hart, Benjamin. "Jesse Watters Says We May 'Have a Coup on Our Hands in America'". Daily Intelligencer. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
47. "Fox News's FBI coup conspiracy theory, explained". Vox. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
48. Jacobs, Ben (December 19, 2017). "'Kill the messenger': how Fox News cried 'coup' over the Trump-Russia inquiry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
49. Bowden, John (December 19, 2017). "Fox guest floats possibility of FBI assassination plot against Trump". TheHill. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
50. Samuelsohn, Darren (December 19, 2017). "The real reason Trump allies are attacking Mueller". Politico. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
51. Carden, James. "House Republicans Try to Turn the Tables on the Mueller Probe", The Nation (December 14, 2017): As Andrew McCarthy, a former US Attorney turned conservative pundit, has noted,"If you’ve made up your mind that Peter Strzok is responsible for tanking the Hillary Clinton case, and that he was putting his thumb on Mueller’s scale against the Trump administration, you are way out ahead of what we actually know—and you’re probably wrong."
52. Nguyen, Tina (December 15, 2017). "HAS THE D.O.J. OVERPLAYED ITS "TEXTGATE" SCANDAL?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved December 17, 2017.

• 1970 births
• United States Army officers
• Georgetown University alumni
• FBI agents
• Living people
• Military personnel from Minnesota