USA TODAY International Edition
McCabe says he’ll no longer be silent
WASHINGTON – President Trump and fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe have unleashed a war of words over McCabe’s abrupt dismissal, with the president calling it a “great day” and McCabe saying he would no longer remain silent after an “unrelenting assault” by Trump and other critics on his reputation and service.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced late Friday that he had fired McCabe effective immediately — barely 48 hours before his retirement benefits would have set in after 21 years of service with the FBI.
McCabe, who’d announced his intention to resign in January, was fired in the midst of a review into the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State.
Sessions, in a statement, said McCabe’s firing was the result of an “extensive and fair” probe of alleged missaid. conduct, which concluded he had made “an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
“The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability,” Sessions said.
McCabe, who rose through the counterterrorism and national security ranks, was the agency’s acting director last summer after Trump fired former director James Comey in May.
Trump, who has publicly castigated McCabe since he announced his retirement plans, applauded Sessions’ decision early Saturday, tweeting that it was “A great day for Democracy” and “a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI.”
“Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!” the president tweeted.
The president kept up the drumbeat with a series of Saturday tweets, including one saying: “The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired.”
McCabe shot back at his critics with a lengthy statement, saying he had held the post of deputy director during a “particularly tough time.”
“Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us,” he
The firing is “part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally.” Andrew McCabe
“The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all.”
Amid such criticism, McCabe said, he had remained silent, “never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.”
“No more,” he said. McCabe called the attacks on his credibility “one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally.”
Details of the investigation into McCabe’s conduct have yet to be released but are reportedly centered on communications with journalists about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The report, due out any day, is expected to sharply criticize the bureau and McCabe.
The president’s fixation on McCabe’s personal political leanings was apparent soon after he was named acting FBI director, when Trump pointedly asked McCabe in his initial interview at the White House who received his vote in the 2016 election. McCabe, according to an official with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly, told Trump he did not vote.
Trump’s repeated subsequent public references to McCabe have helped feed suspicion among an ultra-conservative wing of House Republicans that the FBI was biased against his administration.
Yet Trump’s unusual questions about McCabe’s political leanings and personal attacks also form another potential data point in the ongoing investigation into whether the president tried to obstruct justice in the federal probe into Russia’s election interference and possible collusion with Trump associates.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that McCabe — like his predecessor Comey — maintained personal memos on his encounters with the president.
Mueller has obtained copies of the memos describing McCabe’s conversations with Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.