The FBI’s Peter Strzok, who sent anti-Trump texts and faced Trump’s rage, has been fired

What’s the background here? Strzok was an FBI agent. He played a key role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was a top investigator on Robert Mueller’s team in the early stages of the Russia probe.

And what’s this about text messages? Back in December, Republicans who were accusing Mueller’s investigation of political bias pointed to 375 texts between Strzok and another FBI agent, Lisa Page, with whom he had a relationship.

What was in those text messages? Well, the texts referred to the president as “an utter idiot,” “a loathsome human,” and… you get the idea. Here’s more detail about the texts, if you need a refresher.

What happened after the texts became public? A lot. Mueller removed Strzok from the Russia investigation. Strzok defended his texts in a heated congressional hearing.

And what’s new now? Strzok was fired from the FBI. His lawyer said the decision was made by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich — and “overruled the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility,” which had issued a 60-day suspension and a demotion as punishment.

And what happens now? Well, for one thing, Trump has suggested that now that Strzok’s been fired, the Clinton investigation should be “properly redone.”

Source Buzzfeed


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Donald Trump is putting his entire Crime Family in jeopardy

As President Trump's attacks on the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference escalate, so does his distance from the facts — and his potential legal jeopardy. Here are three ways Trump and his allies have been twisting themselves into logical and likely legal knots on Russia lately.

1. By arguing that collusion is not a crime: Trump and one of his top lawyers, Rudolph W. Giuliani, test-drove this talking point last week. It was a giant step back from the red line Trump has been repeatedly drawing for a year and a half: that there was “No Collusion!”

2. Acknowledging that Trump Tower meeting's true purpose: It apparently wasn't to talk with a Russian lawyer about Russian adoptions policy, as Trump initially told his son to tell the media. It was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russians. Trump confirmed as much directly in a tweet Sunday.

The problem with that? Getting help from foreigners to win campaigns is illegal.

3. Calling for the Russia investigation to end: Since what feels like the beginning of time, Trump has made his feelings about the Russia investigation unmistakable. Last week, the president appeared to go beyond griping when he asked the nation's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to end it. Trump's legal jeopardy there could lie in the interpretation of “should stop” in the tweet below.

Was he ordering someone who works for him to end an independent investigation that so far seems to have been conducted by the book? Or was he just expressing his opinion, as his spokeswoman said later? Source Washington Post

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