The FBI agent who wrote those anti-Trump texts was also key in reopening the Clinton email probe just before the election
An FBI employee accused of harboring bias against President Trump played a pivotal role in reviving the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, CNN reported Wednesday. Agent Peter Strzok reportedly helped draft the letter that former FBI Director James Comey sent to Congress in October 2016, announcing the FBI was reopening its probe into Clinton's private email server. Comey's letter has been cited by some analysts — as well as by Clinton herself — as being instrumental to her loss to Donald Trump in the election.
The new report on Strzok's role in the Clinton investigation complicates the narrative pushed by President Trump and several prominent Republicans that Strzok was proof of bias against the president within the FBI. Strzok was originally staffed on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, but was removed from the probe after Mueller was made aware of texts he'd sent disparaging Trump.
CNN's report shows that Strzok supported making the decision that may have swung the 2016 election in Trump's favor. He additionally wrote in text messages to another FBI agent, with whom he was conducting an extramarital affair, that he was in favor of reopening the probe — though he reportedly noted that he was worried about "the fallout of making the letter public."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The renewed Clinton email probe ultimately yielded no new information or proof of wrongdoing, and Comey closed the investigation again just days later. Read more about Strzok and the Clinton email investigation at CNN.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
'He adored Trump, and then rejected him'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Thursday Murder Club: who's in the film and what we can expect
Speed Read Author Richard Osman reveals starry cast set to play his 'septuagenarian sleuths'
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
The toilet roll tax: UK's strange VAT rules
The Explainer 'Mysterious' and 'absurd' tax brought in £168 billion to HMRC last year
By The Week UK Published
-
Ukraine cheers House approval of military aid
Speed Read Following a lengthy struggle, the House has approved $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Poland, Germany nab alleged anti-Ukraine spies
Speed Read A man was arrested over a supposed Russian plot to kill Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel hits Iran with retaliatory airstrike
Speed Read The attack comes after Iran's drone and missile barrage last weekend
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Peter Murrell: Sturgeon's husband charged over SNP 'embezzlement' claims
Speed Read SNP expresses 'shock' as former chief executive rearrested in long-running investigation into claims of mishandled campaign funds
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claims
Speed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why Johnson won't just pass Ukraine aid
Speed Read The House Speaker could have sent $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine — but it would have split his caucus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sudan on brink of collapse after a year of war
Speed Read 18 million people face famine as the country continues its bloody downward spiral
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump's first criminal trial starts with jury picks
Speed Read The former president faces charges related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published