President Trump asked why special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is not being immediately shut down after the firing of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, whose employment at the bureau was terminated for sending anti-Trump text messages to a colleague with whom he was having an extramarital affair.
In a series of tweets Tuesday, Trump called Strzok “a fraud,” saying he began the “illegal Rigged Witch Hunt.”
He then called for the “angry” Democrats that he has said are part of Mueller’s team investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to instead investigate his former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok is a fraud, as is the rigged investigation he started. There was no Collusion or Obstruction with Russia, and everybody, including the Democrats, know it. The only Collusion and Obstruction was by Crooked Hillary, the Democrats and the DNC!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
Strzok started the illegal Rigged Witch Hunt – why isn’t this so-called “probe” ended immediately? Why aren’t these angry and conflicted Democrats instead looking at Crooked Hillary?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
Strzok was fired Friday from the bureau by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, Strzok’s lawyer Aitan Goelman announced Monday. Stzrok’s attorney said the dismissal “reversed” a previous personnel decision that the former special agent would only be demoted and possibly suspended for 60 days.
“This decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans. A lengthy investigation and multiple rounds of Congressional testimony failed to produce a shred of evidence that Special Agent Strzok’s personal views ever affected his work,” Goelman wrote in a statement.
Strzok played a leading role in the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server and Mueller’s Russia investigation. He was transferred to a human resources position in the bureau following a Justice Department’s inspector general investigation that revealed he sent disparaging texts about Trump to FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Republicans have argued the texts show Strzok was biased against the president.
Trump has regularly accused the Clinton campaign of colluding with Russia, referring to the Clinton campaign’s funding of research that led to a Trump dossier complied by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Steele was hired by Fusion GPS during the presidential campaign to conduct research on then-candidate Trump. It was revealed in October 2017 that the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee had paid in part for the research that led to the dossier. The dossier eventually was handed over to the FBI, which used it to obtain warrants to surveil Trump aide Carter Page.
Many of the claims in the dossier, which contains salacious details about Trump’s trip to Moscow in 2013, have yet to be substantiated.
