Fired FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, who played a key role in initiating and leading the bureau’s investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion, said he has not been interviewed by U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Strzok was asked about the criminal inquiry into the Trump-Russia investigators, which is being overseen by Attorney General William Barr, during a Tuesday interview with Tony Dokoupil on CBS’s This Morning. The host noted that Strzok was potentially “at the center” of the federal prosecutor’s inquiry and asked if he has met with Durham’s team yet. Strzok said he had not. Dokoupil then asked if Strzok was “a target or a witness.” Strzok didn’t answer directly, saying, “I’ve certainly done nothing wrong, so I’m not worried about whatever he may find. If he finds the truth, I’m not worried.”
Strzok was deeply involved in the Russia investigation, including the interview of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and a stint on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team before he was removed following the discovery of his anti-Trump text messages. He came up with the name “Crossfire Hurricane” and authored the “opening electronic communication” that launched the inquiry with the approval from FBI counterintelligence official Bill Priestap. The document notes that a friendly foreign government official, believed to be Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, relayed to the U.S. government in the summer of 2016 that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had told him that spring that the Russians had damaging information on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the form of emails. The FBI cited that information to justify the opening of the Trump-Russia counterintelligence investigation.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in December that the investigation had “sufficient factual predication.” But Barr and Durham stated that they disagreed with Horowitz while conducting their own inquiries into the Russia investigation’s origins.
“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the inspector general that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened,” Durham said in December statement.
Barr agreed, saying, “The FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.”
Barr has made it clear that Durham is investigating how Crossfire Hurricane was opened. The counterintelligence investigation was wrapped into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which after roughly two years concluded in April 2019 that Russia interfered in 2016 in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but “did not establish” any criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign.
Strzok claimed in another CBS interview and in his new book, Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, that Downer was driven to inform the U.S. about the Russian dirt on Clinton that Papadopoulos allegedly told him about after hearing then-candidate Donald Trump say during a press conference in July 2016, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” But Horowitz and Mueller both concluded that Australia informed the U.S. of this conversation on July 26, 2016, which is one day before Trump made the comment about Russia.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements about his communications with mysterious Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, who he said had told him about Russia having damaging information on Clinton.
Durham collected his first guilty plea last month from former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to a false statements charge for altering a CIA email in 2017 that helped justify the continued Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wiretapping of onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Clinesmith fraudulently added that Page was “not a source” for the agency when the CIA had told Clinesmith and the bureau on multiple occasions that Page was an “operational contact” for them.
During the CBS interview on Tuesday, Strzok was asked if he expected “additional indictments.” Strzok responded, “With regard to government employees working on the case? Not at all.”
