Strzok: ‘I continue to believe that Donald Trump is compromised by the Russians’

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok told NBC’s Chuck Todd Sunday that he still believes President Trump to be “compromised by the Russians.”

“I believed at the time in 2016 and I continue to believe that Donald Trump is compromised by the Russians,” Strzok said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And when I say that I mean that they hold leverage over him that makes him incapable of placing the national interest, the national security ahead of his own.”

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

Todd also questioned Strzok about the text messages between himself and FBI attorney Lisa Page, with whom he had an affair. Todd asked Strzok whether he blamed himself for “putt[ing] [himself] in a compromising position” or whether he believed he was treated unfairly.

 “I certainly regret sending the text messages that were absolutely weaponized and used to bludgeon the work of the FBI, the work of the special counsel, I’ll always regret that,” Strzok conceded.

However, he claimed that “the way that those were weaponized” was part of an ongoing pattern of the Trump administration purging dissenters.

“Whether it is in the impeachment hearings with regard to Ukraine, the whistleblower, or anybody in any number of federal government agencies — if somebody dares speak the truth about this administration, this administration has shown no boundaries in going after people in ways that frankly is shocking, are shocking and are inappropriate,” he said.