Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Was Fired
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on Friday, hours before he was due to retire. McCabe was a frequent target of harsh criticism from President Trump, and though his firing proceeded through normal internal FBI channels, Trump's public ire towards McCabe has tainted his dismissal with a whiff of impropriety. The ex-deputy director's firing has also jeopardized the pension he would have received as a 21-year-veteran of the Bureau.
The FBI’s professional review office recommended that McCabe be fired for “lack of candor” concerning the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton. McCabe was accused of lying about his decision to allow FBI officials to speak to the press. Ironically, the story in question could only have helped the Trump campaign. According to HuffPost:
In 2016, McCabe evidently authorized a top aide and the FBI’s chief spokesman to speak with a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story indicating that McCabe battled with Obama appointees within the Justice Department to allow an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation to continue. The FBI isn’t supposed to disclose information about ongoing criminal investigations, but the Oct. 30, 2016, story went into an extraordinary level of detail about turf wars between the FBI and the Justice Department over the handling of the Clinton Foundation probe.
McCabe had stepped down from his post in January, and was using vacation leave to remain on the FBI’s rolls until his official retirement date. President Trump took to Twitter to celebrate his dismissal.
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. 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!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018
Trump has repeatedly posted critical tweets about McCabe since July of 2017, when he asked why Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn't "replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation."
McCabe promptly issued a remarkable statement regarding his firing, saying that he was, "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.”
He suggested that his termination is an effort to undermine the Mueller investigation. "This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally,” he continued, "but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally.”
McCabe, himself a lifelong Republican, has been a focal point of conservative ire. His Democrat wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, accepted donations from Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe during her failed 2015 run for a Virginia state Senate seat, causing conservatives to speculate that McCabe had a conflict of interest in his role at the FBI.
In his statement, McCabe wrote that his firing was part of a broader attack on the FBI from the Trump administration: "The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people."
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