Ex-FBI Agent Peter Strzok, 'Demonized' by Trump, Sues For Reinstatement
The former FBI agent is represented by Zuckerman Spaeder's Aitan Goelman and a team from the Washington employment and civil rights boutique Heller, Huron, Chertkof & Salzman.
August 06, 2019 at 03:50 PM
3 minute read
Peter Strzok, the former FBI counterintelligence agent who was fired last year over text messages critical of Donald Trump, is suing the government to get his job back.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, Strzok argued his firing last year was prompted by “unrelenting pressure” from President Donald Trump and his political allies. Strzok accused the administration of mounting a campaign to “demonize and fire” him and alleged he was denied an opportunity to challenge his firing, which came within days of a top FBI official recommending a lighter punishment.
Strzok is represented by Zuckerman Spaeder white-collar partner Aitan Goelman, a former Obama-era director of enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Richard Salzman and Julia Quinn of the Washington employment and civil rights boutique Heller, Huron, Chertkof & Salzman were also on the complaint for Strzok.
“The campaign to fire Strzok included constant tweets and other disparaging statements by the president, as well as direct appeals from the president to thenAttorney General Jefferson Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire Strzok, which were chronicled in the press,” Strzok lawyers said in the complaint.
During his tenure at the FBI, Strzok helped oversee investigations into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and into links between Russia and the Trump campaign. In 2017, he found himself in a political firestorm following the disclosure of text messages he’d exchanged during the presidential campaign with Lisa Page, then an FBI lawyer, in which the two sharply criticized Trump. Robert Mueller removed him from the special counsel’s office over the texts.
Strzok raised questions about the public release of his messages with Page. The “concerted public campaign” against him, Strzok argued, “was enabled by the defendants’ deliberate and unlawful disclosure to the media of texts, intended to be private, from an FBI systems of records, in violation of the Privacy Act.”
Strzok’s complaint is posted below:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllWhy ACLU's New Legal Director Says It's a 'Good Time to Take the Reins'
8th Circuit Appeal Could Weaken Key Defense in Disability Bias Cases, Employment Lawyers Say
Michael Cohen Loses Bid for Supreme Court Review of Civil Rights Lawsuit
ACLU's Strangio Will Become First Openly Trans Attorney to Argue at Supreme Court
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250