Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who was removed from the Russia investigation into the U.S. election over anti-Donald Trump texts, has been fired, according to his lawyer.
Strzok, a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent worked on separate investigations into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and Robert Mueller’s investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump‘s campaign and Russia.
He was removed from Mueller’s team last summer following the discovery of the texts of in which he referred to Trump as an “idiot.” When the texts were sent, Trump was running for the Republican nomination.
Strzok had been reassigned to the FBI’s human resources division.
WATCH: FBI agent Peter Strzok fired; sent anti-Trump texts
FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich fired Strzok on Friday, his lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement Monday.
“This decision should be deeply troubling to all Americans,” Goelman said. Goelman said the firing was not based “on a fair and independent examination of the facts.”
Strzok vigorously defended himself at a combative House hearing in July, speaking publicly for the first time since the texts were revealed.
He insisted that the texts – including ones in which he called Trump a “disaster” and said “We’ll stop” a Trump
candidacy – did not reflect political bias and had not affected his investigations.