UPDATE: Aitan Goelman, Peter Strzok's attorney, spoke out again Monday night and said the following about Strzok's unexpected firing:
CNN:
"We had an agreement with the FBI's Office for Professional Responsibility (OPR), which is the main caretaker for internal discipline, that (Strzok) would get a 60-day suspension and a demotion," Goelman described. "At the last minute, that was countermanded by (FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich) and he was fired -- so yeah, we were surprised."
Countermanding such decisions "doesn't happen very often," Goelman continued, but "in this case, it is hard to reach any conclusion other than that the decision to reverse the OPR's decision was motivated at least largely by politics."
Goelman added, "We think that they had the power, but not the right to do it. ... There is a normal process that is followed for disciplining civil servants and fed employees. That process was followed here, but in form only and not in substance, and that's what our big objection is."
(...)
According to Goelman on "Cuomo Prime Time," it remains in question whether Strzok will attempt to appeal this decision.
"That's a question, does he fight, and the sub-question is how he fights," he said. "The letter from (Bowdich) said that this is the end of the road, and there are no more administrative appeals."
As of Tuesday night, a GoFundMe campaign for Strzok had brought in more than $360,000.
The Hill:
The fundraising campaign, which is seeking to raise $150,000, says the money will go to a trust to cover Strzok’s “hefty — and growing” legal costs and loss of income after he was fired for sending texts critical of President Trump before the election while involved in multiple politically relevant investigations.
Peter Strzok's attorney: FBI had the 'power, but not the right' to fire anti-Trump agent (CNN)
GoFundMe for Strzok raises over $100K in hours (The Hill)
The FBI has fired agent Peter Strzok, apparently due to anti-Trump messages he sent to colleague Lisa Page, even though the office that handles Bureau personnel matters decided a demotion and 60-day suspension was the appropriate disciplinary action.
Strzok's lawyer, Aitan Goelman, has released a statement:
The termination marks a remarkable downfall for Strzok, a 22-year veteran of the bureau who investigated Russian spies, defense officials accused of selling secrets to China and myriad other important cases. In the twilight of his career, Strzok was integral to two of the bureau’s most high-profile investigations: the Russia case, and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.
But when a Justice Department inspector general investigation uncovered politically charged messages that Strzok had exchanged with another FBI official, he was relegated to a position in human resources. Conservatives soon made Strzok the face of their attacks against the special counsel investigation into the president’s campaign, and the FBI took steps to remove him from its ranks.
(...)
During a June congressional hearing, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Strzok had been referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility — which he referred to as the bureau’s “independent disciplinary arm” — and that officials would “not hesitate to hold people strictly accountable.” Wray promised that process would be “done by the book.”
Strzok is the third high-ranking FBI official involved in the Clinton and Russia investigations to be fired amid an intensely political backdrop. Trump removed [James] Comey as the bureau’s director and said he did so thinking of the Russia case. Attorney General Jeff Sessions later removed Comey’s deputy, McCabe, after the inspector general alleged he lied about a media disclosure related to Clinton.