Strzok sues FBI for firing him over Trump texts

WASHINGTON -- A veteran FBI agent who wrote derogatory text messages about Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging the bureau caved to "unrelenting pressure" from the president when it fired him.

The suit from Peter Strzok also alleges he was unfairly punished for expressing his political opinions, and the Justice Department violated his privacy when it shared hundreds of his text messages with reporters.

"The campaign to publicly vilify Special Agent Strzok contributed to the FBI's ultimate decision to unlawfully terminate him," the lawsuit states, "as well as to frequent incidents of public and online harassment and threats of violence to Strzok and his family that began when the texts were first disclosed to the media and continue to this day."

The complaint, which names as defendants Attorney General William Barr and FBI director Chris Wray, revisits a political drama seized on by conservative critics of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as proof the bureau was biased against Trump. Multiple investigations are underway examining whether the FBI acted properly during the Russia investigation, and Strzok remains a frequent target of Trump's scornful tweets.

The lawsuit seeks reinstatement to the FBI, back pay and a declaration the government violated his rights.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment, and representatives of the FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The suit provides new details about the circumstances of Strzok's firing and amounts to the latest defense of his reputation.

It comes months after a fiery congressional hearing in which he insisted his personal views never influenced his work.

Strzok, a veteran counterintelligence agent who helped lead FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, was removed from Mueller's team after the texts with FBI lawyer Lisa Page came to light. He was fired from the FBI last August.

Many of the texts, on FBI cell phones, were bitingly critical of Trump during his 2016 run for office. They were found by the Justice Department's inspector general during its investigation of the FBI's Clinton email probe.

The watchdog office criticized both Strzok and Page, with whom he was having an affair, for their judgment in sending the messages but did not find the Clinton email investigation was compromised by political bias.