Peter Strzok’s Lawsuit over His Firing from FBI Isn’t Going Very Well for Him

Disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok plans to sue the government to force his rehiring has backfired. The Justice Department responded by releasing documents that show Strzok was so involved in a massive number of “security violations” that he should have been fired much earlier than he was because of his “unprofessional conduct.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filing for dismissal of the includes an August 2018 letter from the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to Strzok, saying in part that he engaged in a “dereliction of supervisory responsibility” when he did not investigate how Hillary Clinton’s potentially classified emails ended up on the unsecured laptop of Anthony Weiner in the days before the 2016 election.

In 2017, New York prosecutors relayed their concerns to the DOJ – going over Strzok’s head–that led to then- FBI director James Comey’s unwise announcement days before election day that Wiener’s laptop contained emails related to the botched Clinton probe.

According to the DOJ’s OPR; although Strzok claimed he “double deleted” sensitive FBI evidence from his personal devices, his wife found evidence on his cellphone that proved otherwise.

Also, included in Strzok’s emails to his colleague and lover, fellow FBI  lawyer Lisa Page, are pages of anti- Trump text message sent during the time he was overseeing the 2016 Clinton email investigation.

The DOJ motion claims that Strzok fails in all his claims. According to the document, Strzok’s role in the Bureau as a high-profile investigator “imposed on him a higher burden of caution regarding his speech.”

In all, Strzok and Page exchanged over 40,000 test messages from August 2015 through May 2018 on government-issued phones. One notable text called then-candidate Trump a “disaster” and suggested that “[w]e’ll stop” him.

According to the DOJ filing:

It is because of those text messages, and the paramount importance of preserving the FBI’s ability to function as a trusted, nonpartisan institution, that Plaintiff was removed from his position, and not because of any alleged disagreement with Plaintiff’s viewpoints on political issues or Tweets from the President.

Attorney General William Barr’s office responded to Strzok’s lawsuit by saying that his allegations that his right to due process was infringed upon would be “soundly rejected.” The DOJ also said that Strzok was “given ample notice and opportunity to be heard.”

Aitan Goelman, a partner with Zuckerman Spaeder LLP and one of Strzok’s lawyers said at the filing of his client’s lawsuit, “Pete Strzok has been a constant target for two years. It’s indisputable that his termination was a result of President Trump’s unrelenting retaliatory campaign of false information, attacks and direct appeals to top officials.”

Although Strzok abused the privilege of his position in the FBI, he now wants to sue the government for not giving him his job back. He claims to have been “humiliated” by the publishing of his illicit and potentially damaging to national security emails.

This is the same man who, while still an active FBI agent, mused in an email imminent revelations of agency indiscretions: “Think there will be a crescendo of leaks/articles leading up to Thurs.”

DOJ investigator David Horowitz presents his full report on Dec 11. Perhaps Strzok should be more concerned about prison time than his job.