Andrew Harrer for Bloomberg.
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WASHINGTON - Peter Strzok has been fired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That makes him the third high-ranking FBI official involved in the Russia investigation to be terminated, along with former FBI director James Comey and the bureau's No. 2, Andrew McCabe.
This has led some to defend Strzok or at least question his firing - suggesting that his downfall is merely the latest result of an effort to obstruct justice and tear down all those who know what really happened in 2016. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., even said Strzok deserved a Purple Heart for absorbing so many GOP attacks.
They should resist this impulse. Arguably no one apart from President Donald Trump himself has done more damage to the Russia investigation than Strzok. And his apparent decision to fight his termination is only going to prolong this ugly chapter.
The news of Strzok's ouster comes from his lawyer, who said the bureau overruled the recommendation of its employee-discipline office. That office had suggested a 60-day suspension and a demotion as punishment for Strzok's anti-Trump and other text messages. Those texts with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was having an affair, were discovered by an inspector general in mid-2017. They were shared with special counsel Robert Mueller, who fired Strzok from the Russia probe immediately.
Among the most infamous texts:
"No. No he won't. We'll stop it." - about Trump becoming president (August 2016)
"For me, and this case, I personally have a sense of unfinished business. I unleashed it with [the Clinton investigation]. Now I need to fix it and finish it." (May 2017)
"I just know it will be tough at times. I can protect our country at many levels, not sure if that helps. . .." - after Lisa Page said Strzok is "meant to protect the country from that menace." (August 2016)
"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office - that there's no way he gets elected - but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40." (August 2016)
This last one was the first text message to blow up, and I was among those who suggested that it wasn't as inherently nefarious is its critics made it out to be. I still think it - and the "secret society" text - were oversold.
But the full thrust of Strzok's text messages can't be denied. He argued that it never actually impacted his official actions and thus the texts weren't "biased." But that misunderstands the meaning of the word "bias." The damage is done merely by raising suspicions about your motives. Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation for a very good reason; he knew how problematic this was, and he wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
Whether Strzok's termination was warranted is now a question that is apparently going to be the subject of a legal battle. But employment law is one thing; politics is another. As with his combative testimony to Congress, Strzok seems bent upon explaining away his problems and trying to recover his good name rather than sinking into the background and hoping people eventually forget about him. And he's got some defenders. Some suggested that his firing meant that his First Amendment rights to express his political opinions had been violated. Others suggested that this might be the culmination of an underhanded effort to undo anyone who investigated Trump and might know something.
Whatever it is, Strzok gave his critics more than enough ammunition. (And as with McCabe, they started with an IG report rather then political opponents.) Just because there have been so many dubious attacks on the Russia probe - including with regards to Strzok's texts - does not absolve Strzok of culpability. Nor do such attacks mean supporters can dismiss the allegations out of hand. And yet there has been a conspicuous lack of desire by Democrats to criticize Strzok.
They're probably just hoping he goes away. He seems to have other plans.