TRUMP CRIME CLAIM

FORMER FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired in the US yesterday that a “crime may have been committed” when President Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.

Mr McCabe also said in the interview with 60 Minutes that the FBI had good reason to open a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat, following the May 2017 firing of then-FBI director James Comey.

“And the idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia’s malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, ‘Why would a president of the United States do that?’ Mr McCabe said.

He added: “So all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder, is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia?”

Asked whether Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein was on-board with the obstruction and counterintelligence investigations, McCabe replied, “Absolutely.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the interview.

Mr McCabe also revealed that when Mr Trump told Mr Rosenstein to put in writing his concerns with Mr Comey — a document the White House initially held up as justification for his firing — the president explicitly asked the Justice Department official to reference Russia in the memo.

Mr Rosenstein did not want to, Mr McCabe said, and the memo that was made public upon Mr Comey’s dismissal did not mention Russia and focused instead on Mr Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation.