Starkville Daily News

EX-FBI Deputy Director Has History of Misleading Statements

- DEBRA J. SAUNDERS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe will be on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, and you can expect to see stories on him and his new book for days. You can also expect Mccabe to portray himself as an upright lawman who stood up to President Donald Trump out of fear that the Russians may have helped carry Trump all the way to the White House.

There is one thing you should know about Mccabe.

The Department of Justice inspector general found that Mccabe was involved in an unauthoriz­ed leak and that he misled federal investigat­ors who questioned him about it. The IG report doesn’t say that Mccabe lied to the feds but concludes he engaged in a “lack of candor under oath.”

That’s why former Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired Mccabe.

While Trump had been pushing for Mccabe’s exit, FBI disciplina­ry officials recommende­d he be canned. Remember that as you watch Mccabe assert that he became a target because he called for the obstructio­n of justice investigat­ion after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

“That’s obviously the problem he has as he’s doing his book tour and describing various situations with the president,” said Gregory A. Brower, Nevada’s former U.S. attorney and a former FBI congressio­nal liaison who worked with Mccabe.

Mccabe’s interview with “60 Minutes” comes ahead of the release next week of his memoir, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.”

At the time of his own firing, Mccabe said in a statement, “I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey.”

Trump first set his sights on Mccabe because the FBI deputy director oversaw the FBI probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, despite what Trump saw as a conflict of interest.

(Mccabe’s wife, Jill Mccabe, ran

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