It's long been gospel in the Russia probe: When special counsel Robert Mueller learned of the inflammatory anti-Trump text messages sent by FBI agent Peter Strzok, he immediately removed him from his team.
But in a newly released transcript of a December 2017 interview, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told lawmakers that he's the one who made the call to oust Strzok from the probe, worrying that Strzok's involvement could taint the special counsel's work.
In a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, McCabe said he learned of Strzok's text messages July 27, 2017, and made a quick decision.
"I made the decision to remove him from the investigation that evening," McCabe said at the time.
"That very day you decided to remove him?" wondered Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
"I came back from my meeting with the inspector general. I met with a very small group of my fellow leaders. We discussed Peter's reassignment, and we discussed where we would place him," McCabe replied. It’s not clear if Mueller was informed at the time.
McCabe's role in Strzok's ouster from Mueller's team is a newly disclosed wrinkle in the saga for the former counterintelligence agent. Strzok played a central role in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server and helped launch the counterintelligence investigation into links between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russians. Mueller absorbed that investigation as well as a criminal probe shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Strzok was removed barely two months into Mueller's 22-month investigation.
Strzok himself omitted any mention of McCabe's role in his removal when he discussed it with the same congressional committees in June 2018.
"My recollection is that there was a brief discussion between me, the special counsel, and one of his attorneys, a discussion of his desire and, you know, expression that he thought it would be appropriate for me to return to the FBI," Strzok recalled under questioning from Rep. John Ratcliffe (D-Texas).
Strzok said Mueller indicated that his text messages were the reason for his removal but that they didn't discuss specifics. "My recollection was there was a sense of regret. There was a sense that Special Counsel Mueller absolutely wanted to run an investigation that was not only independent but also presented the appearance of independence, and the concern that these texts might be construed otherwise," Strzok recalled.
After Strzok was removed from Mueller's team, his office put out a statement that attributed Strzok's removal to the special counsel's office. "Immediately upon learning of the allegations, the Special Counsel’s Office removed Peter Strzok from the investigation," said spokesman Peter Carr in a Dec. 2, 2017, statement, shortly after the details of some of Strzok's anti-Trump comments became public.
According to Strzok, the texts caused the precise scenario that Mueller feared.
When Strzok's anti-Trump texts were released publicly in late 2017, he became the epicenter of allegations by Trump and his allies that the FBI's Russia probe was a politically motivated effort to block his election. Strzok has rejected that characterization and told lawmakers in public testimony that his private political views never materialized in his work on either the Clinton or Trump probes. He noted that had he wanted to harm Trump, he could have leaked the existence of the investigation before the 2016 election, but its details remained secret until after Trump had won.
Though the inspector general of the Justice Department, Michael Horowitz, said he didn't find evidence to show Strzok's politics influenced the Clinton investigation, he's still probing Strzok's work on the Russia probe. Strzok, though, was fired from the FBI last year.
McCabe, too, was fired last year after Horowitz concluded he lied to investigators about a press leak related to the Clinton probe. Trump has long sought to vilify McCabe as politically biased against him, and used his ouster — which came hours before McCabe was set to retire — as justification for his claims of a conspiracy against him. But McCabe's decision to sideline Strzok has so far not been told publicly.
McCabe told lawmakers in his December 2017 interview that Strzok was entitled to his personal views but that he knew the agent was already being investigated for "potential political bias" by the Justice Department inspector general.
"And simply the existence of that investigation I felt was — could place in jeopardy the work of the special counsel's team, and I did not — I could not possibly take that risk," McCabe said.
He said he worried that Strzok's presence on Mueller's team could create the appearance of bias — especially if the inspector general found cause for concern. "I made the decision that Peter should not be involved in the work of the —" McCabe said, before Raskin cut in with another question.
Raskin then asked if McCabe felt Strzok tainted the entire Mueller probe because of the appearance of bias.
"Not in any way that I am aware of," McCabe replied.
A spokesman for Mueller and an attorney for Strzok were not immediately available for comment.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine