The FBI agent who was removed from the special counsel investigation for sending anti-Trump texts was escorted from the FBI building Friday and effectively relieved of work responsibilities – though he technically remains an FBI agent, his lawyer said.
Peter Strzok already had been re-assigned to the FBI’s Human Resources Division after he was taken off Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s team, though the move last week effectively took him off even that assignment.
His lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement, that Strzok was “being put through a highly questionable process,” and those in the public should be concerned about how politics had “been allowed to undermine due process and the legal protections owed to someone who has served his country for so long.”
“Pete has steadfastly played by the rules and respected the process, and yet he continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks,” Goelman said. “All of this seriously calls into question the impartiality of the disciplinary process, which now appears tainted by political influence.”
Strzok was a key figure in two of the FBI’s most high-profile investigations: the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and the separate examination of whether President Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Strzok was a particular focus of the recently released Justice Department inspector general report, which uncovered an August 2016 text message in which he told an FBI lawyer “we’ll stop” Trump from making it to the White House.
The inspector general also suggested that Strzok’s bias might have played a role in the FBI not acting expeditiously in fall 2016 to follow up on a new lead related to the Clinton email case. His findings were forwarded to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility to determine whether Strzok and other employees should face discipline.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
