<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654608838046,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654608838046,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54608825", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1023064"} }); ","_id":"00000181-3e5f-df81-a381-7e7f39240000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedPeter Strzok claimed ignorance of the FBI’s mistakes in the opening of an investigation into discredited Alfa-Bank claims in 2016, as the fired bureau agent renewed his criticism of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the Trump-Russia investigators.
Last week, a jury found Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann not guilty on charges of concealing his two clients from FBI General Counsel James Baker when he pushed debunked allegations of a secret line of communication between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank in 2016.
Strzok made his remarks on the In Lieu of Fun webcast hosted by Ben Wittes of the Brookings Institution on Friday. Wittes is a friend of fired FBI James Comey and of Baker, who had worked at Brookings after his time as FBI general counsel. Some texts between Baker and Wittes were entered into evidence during the Sussmann trial, and Wittes describes Baker as a “personal friend.”
He was visibly frustrated throughout parts of the discussion, especially when discussing Durham and former Attorney General William Barr. Strzok said he had learned “a couple of things” from the Sussmann trial.
SUSSMANN’S COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH FBI REVEALED
“First, I was not aware that Chicago, in this case, who had opened the case, was unaware of where the information came from,” Strzok said. “You know, they put in the EC [electronic communication], and I guess they, you know, the opening communication to the case, that it had come from the Department of Justice, which is incorrect. … And they put it in their closing EC, and that was obviously correct [sic].”
Strzok was fired after the discovery of anti-Trump texts with then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair. He played a key role in opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Sussmann relied in part on a legal analysis by Strzok in his failed attempt to convince the judge to dismiss the case.
A number of top FBI officials were copied on the flawed launch document by the Chicago field office, including Strzok, who was Deputy Assistant Director for the Counterintelligence Division, Deputy Assistant Director Jonathan Moffa, and agent Joseph Pientka. The opening document was approved by other FBI officials.
Strzok has said he took the Alfa-Bank allegations from Baker and then handed them off for FBI cyber experts to examine.
The electronic communication marking the opening of a full counterintelligence investigation wrongly cited a nonexistent “referral” from the Justice Department rather than correctly saying the Alfa-Bank allegations came from a lawyer for Clinton’s campaign. The opening communication was authored by FBI agents Curtis Heide and Allison Sands, who both testified, and the investigation was initiated on Sept. 23, 2016, four days after Sussmann’s meeting with Baker.
Sands and Heide both referred to the glaring errors as “typos.” The closing communication in January 2017 also wrongly claimed the Alfa-Bank allegations were referred to the bureau by the Justice Department rather than from Sussmann.
Strzok also said, “One of the agents who were there testifying made some mention of the fact that, you know, a colleague of mine, a partner of mine for a long time as well as then, that partner and I had been at some meeting where he said, you know, to keep it close hold, specifically to the source. I remember broadly all of these things being very close hold.”
FBI agent Ryan Gaynor testified that FBI headquarters leadership “made the decision not to share the identity of Mr. Sussmann with the field.” He repeatedly described what he believed he’d been told was a “close hold” preventing the disclosure of Sussmann’s identity.
Sussmann’s defense team tried to poke holes in that, but Strzok seems to have confirmed it. Gaynor said Moffa told him senior FBI leadership had put “close hold” on the fact that the information came from Sussmann and that he, Moffa, and Strzok talked about a close hold at some point.
Sussmann’s defense team accused Gaynor of concealing Sussmann’s identity, but Gaynor testified, “The leadership did not allow me to share the information with the Chicago field office.” Gaynor said the close-hold order “must have come down from” Baker. “I was told that it came from above, so above Pete Strzok,” he said.
Heide said, “We may have been conflating the Department of Justice and the Office of General Counsel.”
Strzok authored the opening electronic communication for Crossfire Hurricane in July 2016. Heide was working on part of that Trump-Russia investigation, too.
Strzok also said Friday: “I was not aware that, you know, they had made, it turns out, repeated attempts to — or made repeated requests to interview some of the people, whether it was Sussmann or Rodney Joffe.”
“We had asked numerous times” who the source was, “and we elevated to headquarters,” Sands testified. “We were told that headquarters was working on it, that they were aware, and that we should at the division level focus on the technical analysis.”
Heide said he said he never learned who the anonymous source was.
Strzok also attacked Durham during the discussion, saying that “the behavior in this case I found not be honorable.” He said he no longer believed Durham was excellent nor well respected and added Attorney General Merrick Garland or Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco should force Durham to finish his investigation, saying, “I would hope that DOJ is insisting that he get the report in this summer.”
Garland told lawmakers in October 2021 that Durham had the freedom to continue his investigation and said, “You would know if he weren’t continuing to do his work.” Garland also noted his support for Durham making his report public.
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Strzok also attempted to revive the debunked Alfa-Bank claims.
“What I was told and what we were told is that this was looked at, and it was dismissed, and it didn’t appear to be anything, and from what I heard at trial, I don’t know that’s accurate,” Strzok said, citing unnamed “non-government computer scientists who really know what they’re talking about in this field that I’ve spoken to in the past year or two.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI, the CIA, and a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation cast doubt on or rejected the Alfa-Bank claims touted by the Clinton campaign in the closing days of the 2016 election. Baker said the final conclusion of the FBI was that “there was nothing there.”
