Former FBI agent says it’s ‘clear’ that ‘Donald Trump is compromised by the Russians’

• Former FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was removed from the Mueller investigation after sending negative texts against President Donald Trump, said “it’s clear” that the president “is compromised by the Russians.”
• “They hold leverage over him that makes him incapable of placing the national interest, the national security, ahead of his own,” Strzok said Sunday.
• Strzok was at the center of the investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia and authored a newly released book called “Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump.”
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Former FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was at the center of the investigation into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, said he continues to believe that the president “is compromised by the Russians.”

“They hold leverage over him that makes him incapable of placing the national interest, the national security, ahead of his own,” Strzok said Sunday in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” 

“One of the largest ways that foreign governments gain leverage — certainly in the case of the president — is through financial entanglements,” Strzok said. “And I think when you take a look at the Trump financial enterprise, particularly its relationship with Russian monies and potentially those related to organized crime and other elements, that those interactions have placed them in a position where the Russians have leverage over him and are able to influence his actions.”

—Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 13, 2020

Strzok is the author behind “Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump,” which came out last week. 

He was critical to the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, led by former special counsel Robert Mueller. But Strzok was removed from this role in 2018 after government officials uncovered anti-Trump text messages he sent to a colleague. 

There’s concern that Russia might also interfere in this year’s election between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

An investigation from last month revealed that the Trump administration tried to coerce officials working in intelligence agencies to strike part of a classified report that determined Russia was working on rigging the upcoming November election in Trump’s favor.

Neither the White House nor the Justice Department immediately responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.