Ex-FBI deputy director fires back at Trump
Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says he will not stay silent about the presidential attacks, which he feels underscore the importance of Robert Mueller’s investigation.
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 misconduct, which concludedhe hadmade “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 McCabesince 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 hardworking men andwomen of the FBI.”
“Sanctimon i o u s James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look likea choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!” the president tweeted.
The president kept upthe drumbeat with a series of Saturday tweets,including one saying: “The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was
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
caught, called out and fired.”
McCabe shot back at his critics witha 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 anddegrading allegation against us,” he said. “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 theFBI 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 re- leased but are reportedly centered on communications with journalists about an investigation into theClinton 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 withknowledge 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 inthe ongoing investigation into whether the president tried to obstruct justice inthe 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 withTrump, The Wall Street Jour
nal reported.