Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Peter Strzok is suing the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for violating his First Amendment right to free speech, and his Fifth Amendment right to due process, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
As the News Blender reported, Strzok’s was fired last August, by Deputy Director of the FBI, David Bowdich, over anti-Trump text message Strzok’s issued to then DOJ/FBI Attorney Lisa Page.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges, his firing, that disregarded the recommendations of Candice Will the Assistant FBI Director for the Office of Professional Responsibility, was a result of “unrelenting pressure from President Trump and his political allies in Congress and the media.”
Will had recommended demotion following a sixty-day suspension without pay, if Strzok agreed to sign a last chance agreement, which he had accepted, on August 8th, just a day before he was fired.
According to the court documents, Bowdich dismissed Will’s disciplinary action, fired Strzok’s on August 9th, 2018, without “affording Strzok an appeal to the FBI’s Disciplinary Review Board, or any other due process.”
The lawsuit, that names Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray as defendants, “seeks equitable and injunctive relief, including reinstatement and back pay, for these flagrant violations,” of his Constitutional rights to free speech and due process, adding, “as well as actual damages for the violations of the Privacy Act,” for what they call the “deliberate and unlawful” public release of the text messages shared between Strzok and Page.
Strozk was investigated by the Department of Justice Inspector Generals Office, over the appearance of bias in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as his handling of the early investigation into Russian Election Interference.
According to the IG’s Report, that was released in June of 2018, while IG Michael Horowitz criticized both Strzok and Page for sending private politically charged text messages over their government phones, Horowitz concluded that political bias did not harm either investigation.
For What It’s Worth.
According to Trump Twitter Archive, President Trump has tweeted or re-tweeted about Strzok 39 times, 17 of those tweets came after Strzok’s was fired.
Lisa Page resigned according to CNN on May 5th, 2018.
