Trey Gowdy is not impressed with former FBI official Peter Strzok’s lawsuit to get his job back. For starters, the former South Carolina Republican congressman said Strzok failed to name the right person as a defendant.
Strzok filed suit last week against the FBI, Attorney General William Barr, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, claiming he was wrongfully terminated last year because of pressure from President Trump. Strzok also claimed his First Amendment rights had been violated because of “protected political speech.”
“Who fired him? It wasn’t any of the people he sued ironically enough, it was the deputy director of the FBI, a guy named David Bowdich,” Gowdy said Monday on Fox News, where he is now a contributor.
Listing off Bowdich’s resume, Gowdy emphasized how Bowdich was a “career FBI guy” and “not a political appointee” who investigated gangs. “I don’t think a guy who has done that for his entire career in law enforcement is going to be intimidated by a tweet or two from anybody and that’s who made the decision to fire Strzok,” Gowdy said.
Strzok was removed from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation upon the discovery of text messages traded with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that displayed an anti-Trump bias. FBI Assistant Director Candice Will recommended on Aug. 8, 2018, that Strzok be demoted and suspended for 60 days without pay, but Bowdich overruled that decision and the FBI fired Strzok the next day.
Strzok’s lawsuit, which seeks reinstatement and back pay from the bureau, notes how after Strzok fired his lawyer and reached out to Bowdich to say Strzok’s “profound remorse, record of exemplary service, and unlikelihood of recidivism justify the less severe punishment of a 60-day suspension and demotion rather than termination.”
Gowdy scoffed at the mention of “profound remorse.”
“You don’t express profound remorse for exercising a constitutionally protected right and you don’t agree to a 60-day suspension, and a cut in pay and a demotion if you haven’t done anything wrong,” Gowdy said.
