Fired Strzok ‘Needed to Be Punished,’ Former FBI Agent Says

Former counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok “needed to be punished for his actions” and FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich “did the right thing” in firing Strzok, retired FBI Special Agent Bobby Chacon said Monday night on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

Chacon also said, “I think overall [Bowdich] did this because … the institution has to be bigger than any of us individuals. And I think Bowdich saw that, and he made the decision that this is the best course of action for the FBI going forward.”

Bowdich’s decision must come as a shock to the editors of Daily Kos, the far left-wing blog that praised his promotion back in January as deputy director, hailing him as “Trump’s worst nightmare” and “unimpeachable.”

The Daily Kos item said “Bowdich is a career FBI man with nothing Trump or Republicans can use as a distraction,” and predicted that “he will keep the Mueller investigation going. And he won’t play games.”

Strzok (pictured above) participated in the investigations of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official business as secretary of state — as well as special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into allegations of collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign aides and Russian interests.

But Mueller removed Strzok from the Russia probe as a result of his hundreds of anti-Trump and pro-Clinton messages exchanged with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Many of the messages became public in December 2017, and were the subject of review by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector general (IG).

Although the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) initially ordered a 60-day suspension and demotion for Strzok, Bowdich overruled the decision and fired Strzok on Friday.

Bowdich was a SWAT team sniper and former police officer. He served in the FBI under former FBI Directors James Comey and Mueller.

Chacon told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Bowdich was “probably one of the best bosses I ever had” at the FBI, despite the liberal and media backlash Bowdich fielded after firing Strzok. Some accused Bowdich of caving to Trump’s demands that Strzok be punished.

“I worked directly for [Bowdich] here in L.A. and he spoke at my retirement, and I always thought if there was somebody that could steer the bureau through this morass that we’re in now, it’s Dave,” Chacon said. “And, you know, he did the right thing here.”

“OPR recommended a suspension. Dave saw that we need to have a change for better or for worse. We need to get rid of these people that were in these positions and did these things,” Chacon continued. “And I think he did this for the betterment of the FBI.”

Related: Strzok Firing by FBI Prompts Cheers, New Demand for Prosecution

Although National Review columnist and former U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy said he believed Strzok should have been fired, he worried that Bowdich didn’t articulate specifically enough his reasons for canning Strzok.

“You have to articulate the reason why you are firing him. And if you don’t, what they’re going to say is it was due to political reasons,” McCarthy said, insisting Bowdich should have clearly articulated “the grounds on which we fired him and here’s the evidence backing it up.”

McCarthy pointed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in March upon the OPR’s recommendation. The OPR determined that McCabe made an unauthorized media disclosure and then was untruthful under oath on multiple occasions when interrogated by investigators for the DOJ’s IG.

McCabe was fired two days before his official retirement kicked in.