Anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok was escorted out of the bureau’s headquarters Friday, one day after an explosive report by the Justice Department inspector said his behavior had hurt the venerable law agency’s reputation for fairness.
But Mr. Strzok still appears to be an FBI employee as of Tuesday, according to CNN, which first reported the story.
An FBI spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment from The Washington Times. But Mr. Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman told CNN his client “remains a proud FBI agent.”
Mr. Goelman confirmed in a statement that his client “was escorted from the building” during the ongoing disciplinary process, which he said was being buffaloed by politicians.
“Instead of publicly calling for a long-serving FBI agent to be summarily fired, politicians should allow the disciplinary process to play out free from political pressure,” he said.
“Our leaders and the public should be concerned with how readily such influence has been allowed to undermine due process and the legal protections owed to someone who has served his country for so long. Peter Strzok and the American people deserve better,” he concluded.
Mr. Strzok was briefly a member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team looking into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
However, Mr. Strzok was removed from that team after a series of anti-Trump texts he sent his lover, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, became public. He has been stationed in human resources since leaving Mr. Mueller’s team.
Mr. Strzok also had a key role in investigating Hilary Clinton’s use of a private email server to transmit confidential documents while serving as secretary of state.
Last week, Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz dinged Mr. Strzok for the texts critical of Mr. Trump while he was investigating Mrs. Clinton.
Among the thousands of texts sent to Ms. Page, Mr. Strzok called Trump “an idiot” and, when she texted her worries about Mr. Trump winning the presidency, Mr. Strzok texted back, “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” according to the report.
Mr. Horowitz said there was no evidence political bias motivated decisions in the Clinton investigation, but Mr. Strzok’s actions “cast a cloud” over the entire probe.
• Victor Morton contributed to this article.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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