FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who sent personal text messages critical of President Donald Trump and other politicians, including Democrats, has been fired ― and Trump is taking a victory lap of sorts on Twitter.
“Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI ― finally.” Trump tweeted. “The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer.”
The president also used Strzok’s firing to amplify his attempts to discredit the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, incorrectly describing Strzok as being “in charge” of the investigation. Robert Mueller removed Strzok from the special counsel shortly after the text messages were disclosed.
Trump seemingly also implied he was responsible for firing Strzok, though the decision was made by the FBI.
Strzok testified before congressional committees in July that some of the August 2016 texts he sent to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, were in response to the “horrible, disgusting” comments then-candidate Trump made about the family of a fallen Muslim war hero.
Trump and his supporters, however, argued the texts were evidence of a “deep state” conspiracy to undermine Trump’s presidency.
This story has been updated with additional details.