Washington, D.C. — Peter Strzok, the disgraced former FBI counterintelligence agent at the center of the Russia probe firestorm, has lost his long-running lawsuit claiming his firing was politically motivated and violated his constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson—a Barack Obama appointee—dismissed the case Tuesday, ruling that Strzok’s legal team failed to prove that his termination by FBI leadership in 2018 violated the First Amendment.

Strzok, who spent 22 years at the Bureau, was fired after a series of anti-Trump text messages emerged between him and then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Among the messages: a particularly chilling one where Strzok suggested the FBI might “stop” Donald Trump from becoming president in 2016.

At the time, Strzok was overseeing both the Clinton email investigation and the early stages of the Trump-Russia probe—raising serious concerns over bias and abuse of power within federal law enforcement.

In her summary ruling—currently under seal but partially disclosed—Judge Jackson stated that the extensive evidence gathered, including even a deposition of President Trump, did not support Strzok’s claim of retaliatory firing. She made clear that while she wasn’t ruling on whether the punishment fit the conduct, she could not find a constitutional violation.

“Whether the sanction was appropriate or not was not for the Court to decide,” Jackson noted.

Strzok also claimed he had reached a disciplinary agreement with an FBI official to accept a demotion and 60-day suspension. But then-Deputy Director David Bowdich overrode that deal and terminated him outright—an action Strzok alleged was done to appease President Trump. Jackson rejected that argument as well.

Despite this legal defeat, American taxpayers have already footed a massive bill for Strzok’s actions. In 2023, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department agreed to pay Strzok $1.2 million to settle a separate privacy violation claim—not related to his firing. His colleague and extramarital partner in scandal, Lisa Page, received $800,000 for similar claims.

The Strzok-Page text scandal became a flashpoint in the broader “Russiagate” saga, casting doubt on the objectivity of FBI leadership during one of the most politically sensitive investigations in American history. The duo’s text exchanges—including one where Page asked if Trump would ever become president and Strzok replied, “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.”—became fodder for Trump’s repeated claims of a corrupt “deep state.”

Strzok has maintained that his personal political opinions never influenced his work, and a Justice Department inspector general report in 2019 stated there was no conclusive evidence that bias affected the outcome of the Russia investigation. Yet the damage to public trust was already done.

Their affair—exposed alongside the text messages—only further inflamed public outrage and led to brutal ridicule from Trump on social media.

While Strzok’s lawsuit challenging his firing has now been tossed, questions remain about the massive settlements he and Page received.

During a recent Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel—known for his role in uncovering FBI misconduct as a Trump loyalist—faced tough questioning from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) regarding who in the Bureau authorized these payouts. Patel deflected, stating the agreements were “reached in the Biden administration when my predecessor was director.”