Andrew McCabe was fired late Friday night, on March 16, by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was let go two days before becoming eligible for pension benefits. He was a top official for the FBI and he said he was fired because President Donald J. Trump wanted to tarnish his credibility as part of his “war” against Robert Mueller, the special counsel for the Russia investigation.
McCabe said the attack on his credibility is part of a larger effort to tarnish the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals. “Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel’s work.”
This is the first time McCabe has spoken about his anger at the Trump administration. According to NBC News, his statement paints an incredible picture “of an administration that tried to politicize its principal law enforcement arm, the FBI, and discredit several of the bureau’s longtime leaders, all in an effort to escape scrutiny of Trump by the special counsel.”
In his statement, McCabe noted that had information that would be useful to the Mueller investigation involving Trump. The reality is that he was singled out and mistreated because of the role he played, the actions he took, and the events he witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
It is reported that the firing of Comey is a key aspect in the Mueller investigation. The report by the Department of Justice Inspector General’s Office looked at McCabe’s role in the handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. His role was increased after his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee revealed that he would corroborate the accounts of Comey’s conversations with the president.
The focus of the Inspector General’s Office and the report about McCabe became part of an effort by the administration, driven by Trump, to remove him from his position as a top FBI official, destroy his credibility, and potentially take away the pension he worked 21 years to earn. The release of the report was accelerated, and punitive actions were taken in response, only make sense when viewed through this lens, according to McCabe. He believes that the comments from the White House on Thursday, is an example.
Thursday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred to McCabe as a “bad actor.”
In the past, McCabe endured repeated attacks from Trump and early Saturday morning was no different. The president tweeted:
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comes 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!
It was recommended by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility that McCabe be fired after the report from the Inspector General discovered that he was not honest in his answers concerning the Clinton investigation, according to those familiar with the report. The report has not been released to the public, but it is expected to be in a few weeks.
McCabe states that multiple articles of “defamatory and degrading allegations” against him and his family. The tweets from the president have only amplified the situation. Trump called for his firing. Trump wants McCabe to be stripped of his pension after 20 years of service. “And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us. No More.”
McCabe defended the actions his took in the 2016 investigation into Clinton’s emails. He said that politics did not play a role in the decisions he made. He was pursuing a probe that those in the Department of Justice did not approve.
The FBI was portrayed as caving under pressure, and making decisions based on politics, rather than law enforcement purposes. This is not true. In fact, McCabe says the entire investigation came from his efforts and were completely authorized under the rules of the FBI, to set the record straight, and to clarify that the FBI was continuing an investigation opposed by the Department of Justice.
By Jeanette Smith
Source:
NBC News: McCabe: Trump wants to destroy me to stop Mueller probe
Top Image Courtesy of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Flickr Page – Public Domain License
Featured Image Courtesy of Quentin Bouvier’s Flickr Page – Public Domain License