McCabe: DOJ officials spoke of ousting Trump
Former deputy FBI director’s remarks came in an interview with “60 Minutes” scheduled to air in full Sunday on Channel 7.
Andrew G. WASHINGTON — McCabe, the former deputy
FBI director, said in an interview aired Thursday that top Justice Department officials became so alarmed by President Donald Trump’s deci
sion in May 2017 to fire James Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
The dire concerns about the president’s actions also prompted McCabe to order the bureau’s team investigating Russia’s election interference to look into whether Trump had obstructed justice by firing Comey. The FBI also began examining whether or not Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.
McCabe’s explosive remarks were made in an
interview with “60 Minutes” scheduled to air in full Sunday. He was promoting his memoir, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” which will be released next week.
McCabe said he spoke to Trump just after Comey was fired, and the next day he met with the team investi- gating Russia’s election interference.
“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion,” McCabe said. “That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”
On the eve of his retirement in March 2018, McCabe was fired by Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time, citing lack of candor.
Since his firing, McCabe had kept a low profile while working on the book, but he is now making his story known to the public.
Rep. Mark Meadows of
North Carolina, one of the president’s staunchest allies, derided the book on Twitter.
“The only thing you need to know about Andy McCabe’s book: the author was fired for lying to the FBI and conduct
ing covert investigations in breach of protocol,” Mead- ows wrote. “McCabe has zero credibility.”
Trump criticized McCabe via Twitter, calling him a “dis- grace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country.”
Trump also tweeted: “Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a ‘poor little Angel’ when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax — a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating.”
As a clip from the inter- view with Scott Pelley was released, Pelley said on “CBS This Morning” that McCabe had confirmed a New York Times report that the dep- uty attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had suggested wearing a wire in meetings with Trump and that Justice Department officials discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
“There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said. “These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointedspecial counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president.”
Former law enforcement officials said the comments were made during a pair of meetings May 16, 2017. McCabe and his former colleagues kept contemporaneous memos on their interactions with Trump and Justice Department officials.
According to one of those memos written by McCabe, an excerpt from which was provided to The Times, the former FBI agent wrote that “we discussed the president’s capacity and the possibility he could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment” and the deputy attorney general indicated he looked into the issue and determined he would need a “majority or eight of the 15 Cabinet officials.” McCabe added that Rosenstein suggested that he might have supporters in the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security.
Rosenstein had disputed the account about the wire and the 25th Amendment. Former officials said that
the days after Comey was fired were chaotic and that Rosenstein found himself under enormous pressure.