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| Strzok's personal messages to Lisa Page have been used by Republicans to attack the impartiality of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia during the election. The widespread coverage of the messages has been called{{According to whom|date=December 2017}} an "aggressive campaign" to "undermine the Mueller investigation", "discredit the inquiry", and protect President Trump carried out by conservative media and Republicans. Deputy Attorney General ] 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's also praised Mueller for removing Strzok from the Russian investigation itself.<ref name="NYT121317" /> | Strzok's personal messages to Lisa Page have been used by Republicans to attack the impartiality of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia during the election. The widespread coverage of the messages has been called{{According to whom|date=December 2017}} an "aggressive campaign" to "undermine the Mueller investigation", "discredit the inquiry", and protect President Trump carried out by conservative media and Republicans. Deputy Attorney General ] 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's also praised Mueller for removing Strzok from the Russian investigation itself.<ref name="NYT121317" /> | ||
| In an August 2016 text message, Strzok told Page: "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's <nowiki>], Deputy Director of the FBI] 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 ], chairman of the ], 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 '']'' 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."<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilber|first=Del Quentin|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-fbi-agents-account-insurance-policy-text-referred-to-russia-probe-1513624580?mg=prod/accounts-wsj|title=In FBI Agent's Account, 'Insurance Policy' Text Referred to Russia Probe|work=]|date=2017-12-18|accessdate=2017-12-18}}</ref> | |||
| ==== False coup claims ==== | ==== False coup claims ==== | ||
Revision as of 22:47, 18 December 2017
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 in 2015 and 2016 during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. In July 2016, Strzok was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence 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 Russian investigation when he became aware of criticisms of Trump contained in text messages sent by Strzok to a colleague. These text messages received widespread coverage in the press and Congress, and led to an aggressive campaign by conservative media and Republican supporters of President Donald Trump to undermine the Mueller investigation.
Education and personal life
Strzok attended high school in Minnesota. He earned a bachelors degree from Georgetown University in 1991 and returned to earn a master's degree there in 2013.
He is married to Melissa Hodgman, an associate director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His father worked for many years as an employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and after 1980 worked in villages of several West African countries.
Career
Strzok served as an officer in the United States Army before joining the FBI in the 1990's as an intelligence research specialist.
Clinton email server investigation
By July 2015, Strzok was serving as the section chief of the Counterespionage Section and led a team of a dozen investigators to examine Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
After the investigation was closed, Strzok 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". The draft was reviewed and corrected by several people and its creation was a team process. Strzok and his team also helped review newly discovered Clinton emails days before Election Day.
Russia election interference investigation
By July 2016, Strzok had been promoted to Deputy Assistant Director at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division where he oversaw espionage investigations involving Russia and China.
According to The New York Times, he was "considered one of the most experienced and trusted FBI counterintelligence investigators". He was "considered to be one of the Bureau's top experts on Russia" according to CNN. He signed the document opening the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Strzok then led that investigation which examined, among other things, the Russian role in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak and the Donald Trump–Russia dossier. He also oversaw the bureau's interviews with then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who later pled guilty to lying to the FBI.
Special Counsel Mueller's investigation
Strzok was the top FBI agent working for Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation into any links or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. That investigation was initiated by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May 2017 after the firing of FBI Director James Comey by Trump.
In addition to Mueller’s investigation, the Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General (IG), Michael E. Horowitz, has been conducting an inquiry since January 2017 into how the FBI handled investigations related to the election. Fox News reported that a source close to the IG's ongoing inquiry said it will include examining Strzok's participation in other politically sensitive matters, and that it should be complete "very early next year." The IG announced it will issue a report by March or April of 2018 at the latest.
Text messages
From August 2015 to December 2016, Strzok and a trial attorney on Mueller's team, Lisa Page, exchanged thousands of text messages using FBI-issued cell phones. These exchanges were examined as part of the IG's investigation into the DOJ's handling of the Clinton email case. 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. Strzok and Page had allegedly been using the backdrop of the Clinton investigation as a cover for their personal communications during an affair.
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.
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.
Strzok's personal messages to Lisa Page have been used by Republicans to attack the impartiality of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia during the election. The widespread coverage of the messages has been called an "aggressive campaign" to "undermine the Mueller investigation", "discredit the inquiry", and protect President Trump carried out by conservative media and Republicans. 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's also praised Mueller for removing Strzok from the Russian investigation itself.
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."
False coup claims
In the wake of the publication of Strzok's messages, Fox News intensified its anti-Mueller rhetoric, with some Fox News figures speculating that the investigation now amounted to a coup. 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. A number of observers argued that the Fox News rhetoric was intended to discredit the Mueller investigation and sway President Donald Trump to fire Mueller.
Controversy regarding the leak of private messages
This 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
- "Fairfax Home Sales", The Washington Post (January 8, 2004): "to Peter P. Strzok II and Melissa R. Hodgman".
- ^ 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.
- ^ Browne, Pamela. "Fired FBI official at center of Flynn, Clinton, dossier controversies revealed", Fox News (December 2, 2017).
- ^ Jarrett, Laura; Perez, Evan (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey description of Clinton". CNN. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- Doering, Christopher. "Thieves see ag trade secrets as ripe for picking", Des Moines Register, March 7, 2016.
- ^ Hosenball, Alex. "Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors", ABC News (September 29, 2017).
- 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.
- ^ Price, Greg. "Will Trump Fire Mueller? Democrats Want to Protect Special Counsel Amid FBI Bias Cries", Newsweek (December 6, 2017).
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - Aleem, Zeeshan (December 5, 2017). "The new right-wing attack on the Mueller probe, explained". Vox. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- St. Cloud Times, p. 38 (May 15, 1987).
- "$25K GUAA Participation Challenge", Georgetown University, accessed November 7, 2017.
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- Fonrouge, Gabrielle and Schultz, Marisa. "Feds eye anti-Trump FBI agent over shady moves in Hillary email probe", New York Post (December 5, 2017).
- Democrat and Chronicle, p. 10 (November 17, 2010).
- Strzok, Peter. "Peter P. Strzok: 50-year difference in Iran", Fayetteville Observer (September 3, 2016).
- ^ 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.
- ^ Schmidt, Michael et al. "Mueller Removed Top Agent in Russia Inquiry Over Possible Anti-Trump Texts", The New York Times, December 2, 2017.
- ^ 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.
- "Mueller removed FBI agent from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts: reports"., Reuters (December 2, 2017).
- Sheth, Sonam (December 4, 2017). "Strzok authorized the FBI to launch the Russia investigation". Business Insider. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- Levine, Mike. "FBI agent removed from Russia probe had key role in controversial remarks on Clinton", ABC News (December 4, 2017).
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- Barrett, Devlin and Sullivan, Sean. "Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies", The Washington Post, December 6, 2017.
- Prokupecz, Shimon. "Special counsel brings on FBI official who oversaw Clinton email investigation", CNN, July 13, 2017.
- Kutner, Max (December 2, 2017). "Why Mueller threw an agent off the Trump-Russia probe". Newsweek. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- Darrah, Nicole (December 5, 2017). "FBI agent fired from Russia probe oversaw Flynn interviews, softened Comey language on Clinton email actions". Fox News.
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (December 12, 2017). "Peter Strzok, FBI agent removed from Robert Mueller's Russia probe, called Trump an 'idiot'". USA Today.
- ^ Gerstein, Josh (December 12, 2017). "In texts, FBI agents on Russia probe called Trump an 'idiot'". Politico.
- Jarrett, Laura. "Justice Dept. offers up key witness in Russia probe as House Intel Chair threatens contempt", CNN, December 4, 2017.
- Barrett, Devlin (December 15, 2017). "FBI officials' text message about Hillary Clinton said to be a cover story for romantic affair". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- ^ 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.
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- Wilber, Del Quentin (December 14, 2017). "Full Texts: FBI Employees' Messages Bashed Trump, Sanders, Congress". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
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- 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".
- 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.
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