The Washington Post reported Strzok's lawyer said FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich fired his client on Friday even though the office at the FBI that handles discipline decided Strzok should just face demotion and a 60-day sentence for sending anti-Trump texts.
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The report added that Strzok's firing happened despite assurances that he would be dealt with under normal disciplinary processes.
Commenting on the situation, the former agent's lawyer Aitan Goelman said the FBI caved to political pressure in firing Strzok despite the US constitution protecting his right to free speech.
"The [FBI] decision to terminate was taken in response to political pressure, and to punish Special Agent Strzok for political speech protected by the First Amendment, not a fair and independent examination of the facts," the lawyer said.
The decision, Goelman added, was troubling because a lengthy investigation and congressional testimony failed to produce any evidence that his client’s personal views affected his work.
However, the report concluded that there is no evidence the political views of Strzok impacting the handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private server and email for official business during her tenure as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from the Russia investigation after discovering the text messages.
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The Special Counsel is investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Russia has dismissed claims that it interfered with the vote and both Trump and the Kremlin have denied accusations of collusion.
