An FBI official at the center of Trump’s attacks against the Mueller probe has been fired from the bureau, it was reported on Monday. Peter Strzok was terminated on Friday, his lawyer told multiple outlets, by the deputy director of the FBI, David Bowdich.

Strzok had been an FBI employee for more than 20 years but has come under fire after his text messages critical of Donald Trump were uncovered. The agent had been working on two of the most controversial and high-profile investigations in recent memory: a probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server and and one into whether the Russian government infiltrated or collaborated with the Trump presidential campaign. He had exchanged the critical texts with Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer with whom he had been having an affair. Trump has repeatedly tweeted about Strzok and Page, as he has attempted to depict the Mueller investigation as a “rigged witch hunt.”

On Monday, the president responded to the news with apparent glee.

Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI - finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018

Their texts, which were critical of Trump and a number of other prominent figures, were discovered by the Department of Justice inspector general, and Strzok was kicked off the Mueller team shortly thereafter.

In a later report, the inspector general said Strzok’s texts—including one where he told Page, “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” about Trump’s potential election—“implie[d] a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects.” The report also concluded that it had found no evidence that Strzok had taken any such action. Strzok later told a congressional committee that his anti-Trump texts were just his personal opinion and didn’t “ever enter into the realm of any action I took.”

Strzok’s lawyer suggested to the Washington Post that Strzok’s firing was politically motivated, saying “the director of the FBI office that normally handles employee discipline had decided Strzok should face only a demotion and 60-day suspension.”

Two other senior FBI officials—Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe—were also fired following the Clinton and Trump investigations.

• Donald Trump
• FBI
• Robert Mueller