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| '''Peter P. Strzok II'''<ref>, '']'' (January 8, 2004): "to Peter P. Strzok II and Melissa R. Hodgman".</ref> (born {{circa}} 1970<ref name="wsj_2017-12-03">{{cite news|last1=Wilber|first1=Del Quentin|last2=Sonne|first2=Paul|title=FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Had Key Role in Clinton Email Investigation|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-slams-fbi-after-flynn-plea-removal-of-agent-1512317744 |work=]|date=December 3, 2017 |quote=Peter Strzok, 47 years old, was one of the highest-ranking agents at the bureau and was considered one of its most experienced counterintelligence experts.}}</ref>) ({{IPA-en|stɹʌk}}, <small>like "struck”</small><ref name=Browne>Browne, Pamela. , ] (December 2, 2017).</ref><ref name="CNN changed description"/>) is a United States ] (FBI) Agent currently assigned to its ]. | '''Peter P. Strzok II'''<ref>, '']'' (January 8, 2004): "to Peter P. Strzok II and Melissa R. Hodgman".</ref> (born {{circa}} 1970<ref name="wsj_2017-12-03">{{cite news|last1=Wilber|first1=Del Quentin|last2=Sonne|first2=Paul|title=FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Had Key Role in Clinton Email Investigation|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-slams-fbi-after-flynn-plea-removal-of-agent-1512317744 |work=]|date=December 3, 2017 |quote=Peter Strzok, 47 years old, was one of the highest-ranking agents at the bureau and was considered one of its most experienced counterintelligence experts.}}</ref>) ({{IPA-en|stɹʌk}}, <small>like "struck”</small><ref name=Browne>Browne, Pamela. , ] (December 2, 2017).</ref><ref name="CNN changed description"/>) is a United States ] (FBI) Agent currently assigned to its ]. | ||
| Strzok was the Section Chief of the ] in July 2015 during the FBI's investigation of ].<ref name="CNN changed description" /><ref>Doering, Christopher. , '']'', March 7, 2016.</ref> In July 2016, Strzok was |
Strzok was the Section Chief of the ] in July 2015 during the FBI's investigation of ].<ref name="CNN changed description" /><ref>Doering, Christopher. , '']'', March 7, 2016.</ref> In July 2016, Strzok was chief of the ], and led the FBI's investigation of ].<ref>Hosenball, Alex. , ] (September 29, 2017).</ref><ref>Doering, Christopher. , '']'' (March 7, 2016).</ref {{cite web |last=Bertrand |first=Natasha |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/top-fbi-investigator-peter-strzok-steps-away-from-russia-probe-2017-8 |title=A top FBI investigator has unexpectedly stepped away from special counsel Mueller's Russia probe |work=] |date=August 16, 2017 |accessdate=December 5, 2017}}</ref><ref>Price, Greg. , '']'' (December 6, 2017).</ref> In June and July 2017, Strzok was the top FBI agent working for ] in the ] of Russian interference in the ].<ref name=BI>Bertrand, Natasha. , '']'' (December 9, 2017).</ref><ref>Hosenball, Alex. , ] (September 29, 2017).</ref><ref>Price, Greg. , '']'' (December 6, 2017).</ref> | ||
| ==Education and personal life== | ==Education and personal life== | ||
Revision as of 23:40, 16 December 2017
Peter P. Strzok II (born c. 1970) (Template:IPA-en, like "struck”) is a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Agent currently assigned to its Human Resources Branch.
Strzok was the Section Chief of the Counterespionage Section in July 2015 during the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. In July 2016, Strzok was chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, and led the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. In June and July 2017, Strzok was the top FBI agent working for Robert Mueller in the 2017 Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Education and personal life
Strzok attended high school in Minnesota. He earned a bachelors degree from Georgetown University in 1991 and returned to earn a master's degree there in 2013.
He is married to Melissa Hodgman, an associate director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His father worked for many years as an employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and after 1980 worked in villages of several West African countries.
Career
Strzok served as an officer in the United States Army before joining the FBI in the 1990's as an intelligence research specialist.
Clinton email server investigation
By July 2015, Strzok was serving as the section chief of the Counterespionage Section and led a team of a dozen investigators to examine Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. After the investigation was closed, Strzok changed draft language being prepared for then-FBI Director James Comey, which had described Clinton's actions as "grossly negligent", which may be a criminal offense, to "extremely careless". The draft was reviewed and corrected by several people and its creation was a team process. Strzok and his team also helped review newly discovered Clinton emails days before Election Day.
Russia election interference investigation
By July 2016, Strzok had been promoted to Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division where he oversaw espionage investigations involving Russia and China.
According to The New York Times, he was "considered one of the most experienced and trusted FBI counterintelligence investigators". He was "considered to be one of the Bureau's top experts on Russia" according to CNN. He signed the document opening the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Strzok then led that investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, including the Russian role in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak and the Donald Trump–Russia dossier. He also oversaw the bureau's interviews with then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who later pled guilty to lying to the FBI.
Special Counsel Mueller's investigation
Strzok was the top FBI agent working for Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation of foreign electoral intervention by Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, initiated by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May 2017 after the firing of FBI Director James Comey by President Trump. Earlier, in January 2017, Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General (IG), Michael E. Horowitz, had begun an inquiry into how the FBI handled investigations related to the election.
In late July 2017, the IG's inquiry examined thousands of text messages transmitted on FBI-issued cell phones between Strzok and Lisa Page, a trial attorney on Mueller's team. The messages were sent between August 2015 and December 2016, starting during the time of the Clinton email investigation and ending a month after the 2016 election. Approximately 375 text messages were discovered that raised concerns in the IG's inquiry, including texts that disparaged then-candidate Donald Trump during the election. Additionally, some texts had used the backdrop of the Clinton investigation as a cover for Strzok and Page to carry on personal communications during an affair. In his text messages with Page, Strzok had also made disparaging remarks about Chelsea Clinton, Eric Holder, Attorney General in the Obama administration, former Democrat Governor Martin O'Malley, and Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The week after a search warrant was executed at the home of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Strzok was removed from Mueller's team and reassigned to the FBI's Human Resources Branch. Page returned to working for Deputy Director Andrew McCabe shortly thereafter. Fox News reported that a source close to the IG's ongoing inquiry said it will include examining Strzok's participation in other politically sensitive matters, and that it should be complete "very early next year." The IG announced it will issue a report by March or April of 2018 at the latest.
At the request of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the DOJ agreed to allow Strzok to be interviewed and turned over 375 partially redacted text messages between Strzok and Page to the House Judiciary Committee.
Strzok's colleagues and a former Trump administration official said that Strzok had not previously shown any overt political bias. An associate of his says the political parts of the text messages were especially related to Trump's criticism of the FBI's investigation of the Clinton emails.
According to FBI guidelines, agents are allowed to have and express political opinions as individuals. Former FBI and DOJ officials told The Hill that it was not uncommon for agents like Strzok to hold political opinions and still conduct an impartial investigation. Several agents asserted that Mueller had removed Strzok to protect the integrity of the special counsel's Russia investigation. As there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Strzok, he was not punished following his reassignment. Defenders of Strzok and Page in the FBI said no professional misconduct between them occurred.
Attempt to discredit Mueller investigation
Strzok's personal messages to Lisa Page have been used by Republicans to attack the impartiality of the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia during the election. The widespread coverage of the messages has been called an "aggressive campaign" to "undermine the Mueller investigation", "discredit the inquiry", and protect President Trump carried out by conservative media and Republicans. However, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended Mueller and his work, and has said that he would only fire Mueller if there was actual cause under DOJ regulations, and that no such cause existed. Rosenstein's also praised Mueller for removing Strzok from the Russian investigation itself.
According to the Los Angeles Times "no one has presented even a shred of evidence that Strzok was influenced by his political beliefs in the way he performed his duties, either as part of the Mueller investigation or in connection with the Clinton email inquiry."
Controversy regarding the leak of private messages
Strzok's private messages to Page were part of the inspector general's investigation into how the FBI conducted the Hillary Clinton email server investigation. In what has been described as a "highly unusual" move, the private messages were were released to some members of the House Judiciary Committee and some media outlets. This decision by the DOJ to leak the private messages was by itself controversial, but further statements by DOJ spokeswomen revealed that access to the texts had been granted to some reporters even before their release. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have asked for a review of the circumstances under which the texts were leaked to select press outlets.
References
- "Fairfax Home Sales", The Washington Post (January 8, 2004): "to Peter P. Strzok II and Melissa R. Hodgman".
- ^ Wilber, Del Quentin; Sonne, Paul (December 3, 2017). "FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Had Key Role in Clinton Email Investigation". The Wall Street Journal.
Peter Strzok, 47 years old, was one of the highest-ranking agents at the bureau and was considered one of its most experienced counterintelligence experts.
- ^ Browne, Pamela. "Fired FBI official at center of Flynn, Clinton, dossier controversies revealed", Fox News (December 2, 2017).
- ^ Jarrett, Laura; Perez, Evan (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey description of Clinton". CNN. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- Doering, Christopher. "Thieves see ag trade secrets as ripe for picking", Des Moines Register, March 7, 2016.
- Hosenball, Alex. "Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors", ABC News (September 29, 2017).
- Doering, Christopher. "Thieves see ag trade secrets as ripe for picking", Des Moines Register (March 7, 2016).</ref Bertrand, Natasha (August 16, 2017). "A top FBI investigator has unexpectedly stepped away from special counsel Mueller's Russia probe". Business Insider. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- Price, Greg. "Will Trump Fire Mueller? Democrats Want to Protect Special Counsel Amid FBI Bias Cries", Newsweek (December 6, 2017).
- Bertrand, Natasha. "'He was thrown to the wolves': Former FBI agents defend Mueller team investigator at the center of controversy", Business Insider (December 9, 2017).
- Hosenball, Alex. "Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors", ABC News (September 29, 2017).
- Price, Greg. "Will Trump Fire Mueller? Democrats Want to Protect Special Counsel Amid FBI Bias Cries", Newsweek (December 6, 2017).
- St. Cloud Times, p. 38 (May 15, 1987).
- "$25K GUAA Participation Challenge", Georgetown University, accessed November 7, 2017.
- Bucher, Chris (December 2, 2017). "Peter Strzok & Lisa Page: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- Fonrouge, Gabrielle and Schultz, Marisa. "Feds eye anti-Trump FBI agent over shady moves in Hillary email probe", New York Post (December 5, 2017).
- Democrat and Chronicle, p. 10 (November 17, 2010).
- Strzok, Peter. "Peter P. Strzok: 50-year difference in Iran", Fayetteville Observer (September 3, 2016).
- ^ Bertrand, Natasha (August 16, 2017). "A top FBI investigator has unexpectedly stepped away from special counsel Mueller's Russia probe". Business Insider. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- ^ Schmidt, Michael et al. "Mueller Removed Top Agent in Russia Inquiry Over Possible Anti-Trump Texts", The New York Times, December 2, 2017.
- ^ Schmidt, Michael S.; Goldman, Adam; Lichtblau, Eric (April 22, 2017). "Comey Tried to Shield the F.B.I. From Politics. Then He Shaped an Election". The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- "Mueller removed FBI agent from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts: reports"., Reuters (December 2, 2017).
- Sheth, Sonam (December 4, 2017). "Strzok authorized the FBI to launch the Russia investigation". Business Insider. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- Levine, Mike. "FBI agent removed from Russia probe had key role in controversial remarks on Clinton", ABC News (December 4, 2017).
- Darrah, Nicole (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent fired from Russia probe oversaw Flynn interviews, softened Comey language on Clinton email actions". Fox News. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- Barrett, Devlin and Sullivan, Sean. "Republicans hammer Mueller, FBI as Russia investigation intensifies", The Washington Post, December 6, 2017.
- Prokupecz, Shimon. "Special counsel brings on FBI official who oversaw Clinton email investigation", CNN, July 13, 2017.
- Kutner, Max (December 2, 2017). "Why Mueller threw an agent off the Trump-Russia probe". Newsweek. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (December 12, 2017). "Peter Strzok, FBI agent removed from Robert Mueller's Russia probe, called Trump an 'idiot'". USA Today.
- ^ Gerstein, Josh (December 12, 2017). "In texts, FBI agents on Russia probe called Trump an 'idiot'". Politico.
- ^ Demirjian, Karoun; Barrett, Devlin (December 2, 2017). "Top FBI official assigned to Mueller's Russia probe said to have been removed after sending anti-Trump texts". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- Perez, Evan (December 4, 2017). "FBI agent removed from Mueller investigation". CNN. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- Barrett, Devlin (December 15, 2017). "FBI officials' text message about Hillary Clinton said to be a cover story for romantic affair". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- Delk, Josh (December 14, 2017). "FBI agent removed from Russia probe also lambasted Sanders, Holder in texts". TheHill. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- Wilber, Del Quentin (December 14, 2017). "Full Texts: FBI Employees' Messages Bashed Trump, Sanders, Congress". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
- Wilber, Del Quentin (December 14, 2017). "FBI Agent Removed From Russia Probe Held Dim Views of Holder, Sanders". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- Levine, Mike. "Special counsel's Russia probe loses top FBI investigator", ABC News, August 16, 2017: "The recent departure of the FBI veteran, Peter Strzok, is the first known hitch in a secretive probe that, by all public accounts, is charging full steam ahead. Just last week, news surfaced that Mueller's team had executed a search warrant at the Virginia home of Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort."
- Uchill, Joe. "High-ranking FBI official leaves Russia probe", The Hill, August 16, 2017: "The move comes as Mueller's investigation has appeared to accelerate in pace. Near the end of July, agents served the former head of the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort, with a search warrant for his Virginia home."
- Griffiths, Brent (December 2, 2017). "Top FBI agent was removed from Russia probe over allegations he made anti-Trump statements". Politico.
- Levine, Mike; Thomas, Pierre (September 28, 2017). "Special counsel's Russia investigation team loses 2nd FBI veteran". ABC News. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- Darrah, Nicole (December 5, 2017). "FBI agent fired from Russia probe oversaw Flynn interviews, softened Comey language on Clinton email actions". Fox News.
- Jarrett, Laura. "Justice Dept. offers up key witness in Russia probe as House Intel Chair threatens contempt", CNN, December 4, 2017.
- Williams, Katie (December 12, 2017). "FBI agent becomes GOP public enemy No. 1". The Hill. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- Wilber, Del Quentin (December 2, 2017). "Mueller Reassigned Top Aide on Russia Probe After Anti-Trump Texts". The Wall Street Journal.
- Graham, David. "The Strange Tale of Peter Strzok", The Atlantic, December 7, 2017: "Wray said during testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that, although he had been reassigned, Strzok had not been punished".