OPINION:
Over the past two weeks it has been revealed that Justice Department official Peter Strzok is facing an inquiry from the DOJ’s Inspector General over what appears to be highly inappropriate conduct while he was engaged in several high-profile, politically charged investigations over the past two years.
Strzok, a former deputy to the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI who also weaseled his way onto Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia Collusion investigation until he was removed in July, has been in the headlines lately over text messages showing his utter disdain for then-candidate Donald Trump and his attempt to plan a mysterious “insurance policy” incase the billionaire real estate and media mogul won the highest office in the land.
So what did Strzok actually accomplish at the Justice Department up until his reassignment to an “supervisory job in the bureau’s human resources department” over the summer?
Remarkably, (and some would say disturbingly) quite a lot.
1: Strzok was able to modify FBI Director James Comey’s initial finding that Hillary Clinton had been “grossly negligent” in her handling of sensitive and classified government documents with the use of her private email server. Strzok’s Svengali-like manipulation of Comey (a man who’s credibility can not and should not ever be questioned because Joe Scarborough has told us he’s impeccable… although it’s kind of strange to hear how this partisan underling manipulated Comey in such a blatant and perverse way) successfully changed the FBI’s findings on the Clinton email debacle to “extremely careless” thereby keeping the outrageous behavior free from criminal referral. Score one for the Thesauras! Hillary saved by the synonym machine!
2. Strzok participated in the interview of Hillary Clinton over her private email server. The interview, conducted days before Comey released his controversial findings in July 2016, was conducted without the benefit of any recording devices or a sworn oath.
3. Strzok also convinced Comey (a pillar of virtue and a man who’s competence and effectiveness you really shouldn’t ever question, I mean, just look at the great job he did) to soften the language in his findings over the likelihood Clinton’s private and unauthorized email server had been hacked by a foreign entity.
“In an early draft, Comey said it was “reasonably likely” that “hostile actors” gained access to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email account. That was changed later to say the scenario was merely ’possible.’” Fox News reported this week.
4. Strzok also oversaw the questioning of then-National Security Director Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russian officials during the post-election transition process. Flynn’s answers to Strzok’s questions were later found to rise to the level of criminal deception leading Flynn to a guilty plea agreement with the Mueller investigation.
5. We’ve also learned that Strzok was a “key figure” with regard to the acceptance of and possible dissemination of the infamous Russian Dossier, a collection of unverified tales about Donald Trump that was paid for by the Clinton campaign. Strzok reportedly briefed the House Intelligence Committee on the dossier in December of 2016, just one month after the presidential election and in the middle of the transition process.
6. Fox News has also reported that Strzok has been accused of “obstructing” the House Intel Committee’s investigation. “Investigators were contacted by an informant suggesting that there was “documentary evidence” that Strzok was purportedly obstructing the House probe into the dossier,” James Osen and Jake Gibson earlier this month.
7. As a highly placed member of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation team, Strzok rubbed elbows and cooperated with other intelligence agency heads including John Brennan at CIA and Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper. Both Brennan and Clapper have shown themselves to be as virulently anti-Trump and partisan as Strzok displayed in his text messages. And let’s not forget, Clapper’s report on Russian involvement with the DNC hack and WikiLeak’s was the foundation of the fake “Seventeen Intelligence Agencies have concluded Russian hacking on behalf of Trump” talking point that emanated from the Obama Administration, was parroted by the Clinton campaign and became a montra of the New York Times, AP, CNN and most mainstream media outlets until they corrected their own record earlier this year.
That’s the list as of now… but we expect it to keep growing.
It is unclear whether Strzok was involved with the FISA warrant that ultimately led to a wiretap on former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort who has been indicted as a result of the Mueller investigation. But given his alleged involvement in the FBI’s handling of the dossier and the infamous “insurance policy” texts suggesting an attempt to undermine the Trump campaign or a potential Trump presidency, many observers are connecting those dots and reaching reasonable conclusions.
Strzok is the quintessential swamp creature and it is remarkable to look at how many highly politically charged pies he had his fingers in over the past two years. Remarkable until you recognize exactly what has sadly become the reality here on the ground in Washington DC. There was a time when “Career Justice Department Official” was a badge of honor and something that suggested that the individual attached was one of extreme integrity and beyond political influence or corruption. Now, sadly, it appears the exact opposite applies.
Where are the “Career Justice Department Officials” who don’t appear to be more loyal to the swamp, the system and their chosen political allies rather than the rule of law?
Please read our comment policy before commenting.