Sessions says FBI agent Peter Strzok no longer has his security clearance

Attorney General Jeff Sessions disclosed Thursday that FBI agent Peter Strzok no longer has his security clearance.

“Mr. Strzok as I understand has lost his security clearance,” Sessions stated during a radio interview on “The Howie Carr Show.”

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for further comment.

Sessions’s remark comes after Strzok’s attorney confirmed on Tuesday that the counterintelligence agent was escorted from the FBI building amid an internal review of his conduct.

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Strzok has been at the center of ire on the right over private text messages he exchanged with then-FBI attorney Lisa Page that blasted President Trump and other political figures during the 2016 election.

The pair made headlines again last week after one of their previously undisclosed text message exchanges surfaced in a report from department’s Inspector General (IG). 

Text messages in the report show that Strzok, who worked as a top investigator in the probe into Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of State, worked in 2016 to reassure Page that Trump would not be elected.

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page asked in a text to Strzok in August 2016.

“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

The IG report said the text exchange was “indicative of a biased state of mind” — and suggested that Strzok may have purposefully slow-rolled the review of emails connected to the Clinton investigation discovered after the probe was closed, which were on former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-N.Y.) laptop. 

However, the IG also maintained that Strzok and Page’s potential political biases never “directly affected” the specific investigative actions that the watchdog reviewed for its report.

Strzok and Page, who were having an affair during the 2016 presidential campaign, were both removed from special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russian election meddling after previously disclosed text messages critical of Trump and other figures were discovered last year.

“Pete has steadfastly played by the rules and respected the process, and yet he continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks,” Strzok’s lawyer Aitan Goelman said in a statement Tuesday.

“Despite being put through a highly questionable process, Pete has complied with every FBI procedure, including being escorted from the building as part of the ongoing internal proceedings.”