The suit seeks to get Strzok's job back and back pay for what he says was his wrongful termination.
ADVERTISEMENTFormer FBI agent Peter Strzok filed suit against the Justice Department on Tuesday, arguing he was wrongly fired for sending private text messages that ripped Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Strzok was a senior FBI official who worked on the investigations into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state and any links between Russia interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller had him removed from his investigation into Trump and Russia after the anti-Trump texts emerged publicly.
Strzok was fired from the FBI late last year. His lawsuit says he was fired as a result of a "concerted public campaign to disparage and, ultimately, fire Special Agent Strzok" that "was enabled by the defendants' deliberate and unlawful disclosure to the media of texts."
"The FBI fired Special Agent Strzok because of his protected political speech in violation of his rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States," the complaint says.
The suit demands his reinstatement, back pay and other damages.