WASHINGTON, Aug 7: Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was fired last August for sending disparaging text messages during the 2016 presidential election against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, has filed a lawsuit seeking to be reinstated in the agency, media reported.
Strzok filed a lawsuit in US federal court in Washington on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported. Strzok accused the Trump administration of restricting his freedom of speech, arguing that it encouraged partisan political speech by federal employees only if it was in favor of Trump.
Strzok’s lawyer Aitan Goelman said in a statement, quoted by the Washington Post, that his clients’ “termination was a result of Trump’s unrelenting retaliatory campaign of false information, attacks and direct appeals to top officials.”
Strzok helped oversee the Russia probe conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He also participated in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her term of US Secretary of State.
Ahead of the 2016 Presidential vote Strzok expressed critical views of Trump to FBI attorney Lisa Page in a text message exchange that eventually became public.
In April, Mueller issued a final report on his investigation and said the probe found no evidence of collusion between Trump and his campaign with Russian officials in the run-up to the election. However, Mueller listed 10 instances that could constitute obstruction of justice by the US president.
After reviewing the facts, US Attorney General William Barr said he concluded the evidence provided by Mueller failed to establish that Trump committed an obstruction of justice offense.
Trump has repeatedly called Mueller’s investigation a political witch hunt. Russia has also denied allegations of interference in the US political system, saying they were made up to excuse the election loss of Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton and deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
(agencies)
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