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Left wing nut Peter Strzok is fired, and this former FBI agent is shedding no tears for him

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I received the news with zero emotion. Former FBI senior 
executive Peter Strzok had been fired.

My custom when a fellow law enforcement colleague has fallen on 
hard times or gotten caught up in bad circumstances, even of 
their own design, has typically been to feel empathy. And yet 
Strzok’s deserved firing has left me feeling empty, hollow, and 
numb. Yes, some form of justice has been served. Strzok’s 
conduct while overseeing two supremely consequential FBI 
investigations was unconscionable. He tarnished the badge and 
committed the ultimate bureau “sin”— he embarrassed the FBI.

Strzok was the epitome of a “blue-flamer," FBI parlance for a 
ruthless promotion-seeker. He may well serve as a cautionary 
tale during future reviews of the Robert Mueller-era management 
program named “Up of Out," that long unpopular administrative 
contrivance sought to incentivize junior employee migrations to 
Washington D.C. and FBI headquarters. Hell, if you can’t attract 
experienced street agents to staff cubicles at headquarters, 
simply provide housing and per diems and promise promotional 
considerations not available to the humps laboring in FBI field 
offices to callow youth— or so the logic goes.

But all things considered, Strzok is not a loathsome character 
in this political melodrama. He is pitiable. My initial 
assessment of him was that he was a hapless victim of 
circumstance, a forlorn character in a Greek tragedy. The 
president, who characteristically tweeted his unconstrained glee 
this morning at Strzok’s misfortune, hasn’t helped. His 
continual bashing of imperfect FBI officials has a more than 
tawdry appearance and can certainly be interpreted as potential 
obstruction of justice in the Russian collusion investigation 
that Strzok once led.

But President Trump is a politician. And though I have oft 
cautioned there may be no there there in the case of his 
campaign's alleged collusion with the Kremlin, there are 
remedies for his actions, either at the ballot box or through 
the political process of impeachment.

The only remedy for Strzok’s disgraceful actions was just 
summarily levied— firing. And he ironically has met the same 
fate as his mentor, former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, who 
was fired for lying under oath, by the attorney general, after a 
recommendation from the inspector general’s office. In fact, the 
only true “collusion” that may ever be determined could well 
have been perpetrated by McCabe, Strzok, and FBI attorney Lisa 
Page, as evidenced by those infamous text message exchanges.

Look, I have never ascribed to the theory that a pernicious 
governmental “deep state” exists and I have complete confidence 
in the IG process and findings. Michael Horowitz has determined 
that there were no material actions conducted in furtherance of 
a scheme to impact the 2016 election. Thus, Russian efforts 
aside, nothing related to James Comey’s FBI was determined to 
have purposely impeded the will of the American people who 
elected Trump to be their president.

That doesn’t mean some in the FBI, like Strzok, didn’t attempt 
to do just that. Finding no evidence of material acts does not 
mitigate the reprehensible discussions that apparently took 
place between Strzok, McCabe, and a small cabal of pathetic FBI 
senior executives. And Strzok’s recent graceless appearance 
before Congress, when called to testify, assuaged none of us who 
had concerns about his judgment and fealty to the Constitution.

I weep no tears of sorrow for Strzok’s professional demise. The 
damage he has done to the reputations of governmental 
institutions was tangible and more lasting than some would make 
you believe about a few ill-advised presidential tweets.

Peter Strzok broke our cardinal rule as FBI agents. He deeply 
embarrassed the Bureau. He had to go.

James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) worked in the FBI for 25 
years. He is a law enforcement analyst for CNN and an adjunct 
assistant professor in homeland security and criminal justice at 
St. John's University.

Tags: Opinion  Beltway Confidential  Blog Contributors  Peter 
Strzok  FBI  Donald Trump  Leftists  Liberalism  Failure 
Dishonest  Obama  Idiot  Clinton  Democrat  Ignorant  Fool  
Payback Is A Bitch
   

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Left wing nut Peter Strzok is fired, and this former FBI agent is shedding no tears for him "Deplorable Redneck" <deplorable.redneck@nytimes.com> - 2018-08-15 09:27 +0200

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