Peter Strzok deserved discipline. What he got was an unceremonious termination, and a bully President taunting him about it on Twitter.
That’s life in Donald Trump’s America, where political enemies get kicked in the teeth before their noses are broken for good measure.
Strzok, a once-shining FBI star and former lead agent into probes on Russia — and, before that, Hillary Clinton’s emails — was fired Monday following an inspector general report on texts he exchanged with his lover, FBI counsel Lisa Page, that revealed deep animosity to then-candidate Trump.
Strzok made serious misjudgments; anyone conducting a politically sensitive inquiry should be circumspect about discussing their potential targets, so as not to create the appearance of bias.
But we emphasize that word: appearance. The internal inquiry brought nothing to light suggesting that Strzok did anything untoward to distort the investigation. He simply had, and expressed, political opinions — quite common ones at that. He was only briefly attached to Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
Deputy Director David Bowdich must explain why he went beyond the recommendation of the bureau’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which called for Strzok to be demoted and suspended for 60 days.
If such an explanation never comes, we’ll be left only with the President’s gross gloat that a supposed hunter of witches got a stake through the heart.
