Remove the screws holding the back cover plate in place. You'll be astonished to observe that the drain pump is in the very front of the unit (in pic), and the inaccessible removable strainer faces forward, and you'll be unable to reach the strainer to remove it from the rear, or from the front.

It’s as if the mechanical designer forgot to put in an front access panel, or the drain layout guy thought there would be one. If there was a stupid design award, this should be near the top. But there’s a quick shortcut that avoids the full teardown.

Take off the bottom access panel. It’s flimsy, mine was all bent up and came off easily, you’ll need to squeeze 3 plastic cable harness standoffs from the bottom to free them from the access panel.