The special counsel examining alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election has removed a top FBI investigator from his team for exchanging text messages with a colleague that expressed anti-Trump views, two US newspapers report.
The New York Times and the Washington Post identified the investigator as FBI agent Peter Strzok, the deputy head of FBI counter-intelligence. He was reassigned last summer to the FBI's human resources department after the Justice Department's inspector general began looking into the text messages, the papers said, quoting several unidentified people familiar with the matter.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the reports Strzok was transferred to the human resources department over the politically charged text messages.
Strzok played a key role in the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, the papers said.
During that probe and the 2016 presidential election, Strzok and an FBI colleague exchanged texts that disparaged then-Republican candidate Donald Trump and favoured Clinton, his Democratic rival, the Washington Post said. The newspapers did not disclose details of the text messages.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Reuters was unable to reach Strzok for comment.
The New York Times said a lawyer for Strzok declined to comment, while the Washington Post said it repeatedly sought comment from Strzok, but received no response.
Mueller's office confirmed Strzok's removal, but did not elaborate on the cause.
"Immediately upon learning of the allegations, the Special Counsel's Office removed Peter Strzok from the investigation," spokesman Peter Carr said.
In apparent reference to the case, the Justice Department inspector general's office said in a statement that it was "reviewing allegations involving communications between certain individuals."
The FBI was not immediately available for comment.
Mueller, a former FBI director, is looking into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, which ran an influence operation aimed at swinging the vote to Trump over Clinton, according to three US intelligence agencies.
