Fired FBI chief gives Mueller memos on Trump meetings

Andrew Mccabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by President Donald Trump who was sacked by the attorney general on Friday, kept personal memos detailing interactions with the president that have been handed over to the special counsel’s office, it has emerged.

The memos are reportedly similar to notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey.

The documents could affect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as his team examines Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice.

Mr Mccabe’s memos include details of his own interactions with the president, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. They also recount different conversations he had with Mr Comey, who kept notes on meetings with Mr Trump that unnerved him.

Though the precise contents are unknown, the memos could possibly help substantiate Mr Mccabe’s assertion that he was unfairly maligned by a White House he says had declared “war” on the FBI and by Mr Mueller’s investigation. They almost certainly contain, as Mr Comey’s memos did, previously undisclosed details about encounters between the Trump administration and the FBI that could be of interest to Mr Mueller.

The disclosure came hours after Mr Trump called Mr Mccabe’s firing by attorney general Jeff Sessions “a great day for democracy” and asserted without elaboration that Mr Mccabe knew “all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI”. In the last year, Mr Trump has repeatedly condemned Mr Mccabe as emblematic of an FBI that he insists is biased against his administration.

That drove former CIA director John Brennan, an outspoken Trump critic, to voice his anger on Twitter. He said: “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy Mccabe, but you will not destroy America.”

Mr Sessions said he had acted on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials who said Mr Mccabe had not been candid with a watchdog office investigation. Mr Mccabe was fired two days before his retirement date yesterday. The dismissal probably jeopardised his ability to collect his full pension benefits.

0 Andrew Mccabe’s memos are said to be similar to notes compiled by sacked FBI chief James Comey