36 Facts About Peter Strzok

Peter Paul Strzok II is a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agent.

Peter Strzok was the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

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.

News of the text messages led Trump, Republican congressmen and right-wing media to speculate that Peter Strzok participated in a conspiracy to undermine the Trump presidency.

Peter Strzok asserted in the suit that his text messages were "protected political speech", and that the termination violated his First Amendment rights.

Peter Strzok's father is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel who served in the Corps of Engineers.

The family later moved to Upper Volta, where the elder Peter Strzok took an assignment with Catholic Relief Services after retiring from military service.

One of Peter Strzok's uncles is Father James Peter Strzok, SJ, a Jesuit priest doing missionary work in east Africa.

For high school, Peter Strzok attended St John's Preparatory School in Minnesota, graduating in 1987.

Peter Strzok earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1991 as well as a master's degree in 2013.

Peter Strzok is married to Melissa Hodgman, an associate director at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Peter Strzok led a team of a dozen investigators during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server and assisted in the drafting of public statements for then-FBI Director James Comey.

Peter Strzok changed the description of Clinton's actions from "grossly negligent", which could be a criminal offense, to "extremely careless".

Later, when additional emails were discovered a few days before the election, Peter Strzok reportedly supported reopening the Clinton investigation.

Peter Strzok rose to the rank of Deputy Assistant Director in the Counterintelligence Division and was the number two official within that division for investigations involving Russia.

Peter Strzok oversaw the bureau's interviews with then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn; Flynn later pled guilty to lying during those interviews.

In July 2017, Peter Strzok became the most senior FBI agent working for Robert Mueller's 2017 Special Counsel investigation looking into any links or coordination between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government.

Peter Strzok served in that position until August 2017, at which time he was moved to the Human Resources Branch.

Peter Strzok left the investigation in late July 2017 after the discovery of personal text messages sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer, during the 2016 election campaign, which criticized Trump and said he would "stop" Trump.

On June 15,2018, the day after this IG report was published, Peter Strzok was escorted from FBI headquarters as part of the bureau's internal conduct investigations.

On June 21,2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that Peter Strzok had lost his security clearance.

Peter Strzok called Trump an "idiot" in August 2015 and texted "God Hillary should win 100,000,000 - 0" after a Republican debate in March 2016.

Messages released in January 2018 showed that Peter Strzok was hesitant to join the Mueller investigation, with Page encouraging him not to do so.

Former FBI and DOJ officials told The Hill that it was not uncommon for agents like Peter Strzok to hold political opinions and still conduct an impartial investigation.

Several agents asserted that Mueller had removed Peter Strzok to protect the integrity of the special counsel's Russia investigation.

At a July 12,2018 public congressional hearing, Peter Strzok denied that the personal beliefs expressed in the text messages impacted his work for the FBI.

Peter Strzok explained that a "We'll stop Trump" text message was written late at night and off-the-cuff shortly after Trump denigrated the immigrant family of a fallen American war hero, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, and that the message reflected Peter Strzok's belief that Americans would not vote for a candidate who engaged in such "horrible, disgusting behavior".

Peter Strzok said that he criticized politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in his "blunt" text messages.

Peter Strzok claimed the investigation into him and the Republicans' related rhetoric was misguided and played into "our enemies' campaign to tear America apart".

One guest on Fox's talk and news show Outnumbered, Kevin Jackson, speculated that Peter Strzok's messages were evidence of a plot by FBI agents to make "an assassination attempt or whatever" against President Trump, which other Fox hosts quickly contradicted and said was not "credible".

Peter Strzok filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the DOJ and the FBI in federal court on August 6,2019, asking to be reinstated and awarded back pay.

Peter Strzok argued that the Justice Department had terminated him because of "unrelenting pressure" from Trump over his comments in private text messages.

Peter Strzok asserted in the suit that his sentiments were "protected political speech," that the DOJ had violated his privacy by releasing his texts to the media, and that his termination violated the First Amendment.

Peter Strzok alleged that the Trump administration had "consistently tolerated and even encouraged partisan political speech by federal employees", but only if that speech lauded the president and denounced his opponents.

Since October 2020, Peter Strzok has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

On February 6,2023, the Cleanup On Aisle 45 podcast, hosted by Allison Gill, announced that Peter Strzok would be the new co-host starting on February 22,2023.