Peter Strzok

Peter Paul Strzok II (, like struck; born March 7, 1970) is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. During his FBI career, he was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. He had previously been the chief of the division's Counterespionage Section and led the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server. In June and July 2017, Strzok worked on Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation into any links or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. In July 2017, Mueller removed Strzok from the Russia investigation after partisan text message exchanges between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were revealed, including a message in which Strzok said "we'll stop" Trump from becoming president. News of the text messages led Trump, Republican congressmen and right-wing media to speculate that Strzok participated in a conspiracy to undermine the Trump presidency. On August 10, 2018, FBI deputy director David Bowdich fired Strzok for the text messages after the FBI's employee disciplinary office had recommended that Strzok only be suspended for 60 days and demoted. On August 6, 2019, Strzok filed a wrongful termination suit against the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, asking to be reinstated and awarded back pay. He asserted in the suit that his text messages were "protected political speech", and that the termination violated his First Amendment rights. In May 2024, the Justice Department agreed to settle Strzok's wrongful termination suit for $1.2 million. Strzok's 2020 book, Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, became a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller.