Was the firing of Andrew McCabe a political move? Did Attorney General Jeff Sessions time this firing to please President Trump?
Maybe. I mean, it really smells that way, whether it was a warranted firing or not. The guy stepped down weeks ago. Why not then? Why wait 2 days before his retirement, after over 20 years of service to the country to pull the trigger and screw the guy out of his pension?
What we do know is that after an inspector general investigation into McCabe’s alleged interactions with reporters, that it was recommended that he be dismissed.
The timing, again, just seems hinky.
All that was really accomplished in this was to give the petulant man-baby in the Oval Office a reason to gloat. Let’s be honest: the book deal McCabe will likely get from this will far exceed in earnings whatever his pension may have been.
All that being said, McCabe is pushing back. He insists that he did nothing wrong.
Did he give details of an ongoing investigation to the press?
Speaking to ABC News, McCabe said that he made a 2016 decision to supply information to a reporter in order to attempt to shift a narrative that he was slow-walking the Clinton Foundation investigation at the agency.
“The department was not impressed with the case, and they didn’t believe it should be going forward,” McCabe said.
The former deputy director felt releasing details about his conversation with a Justice Department official about the case would change what he felt was an inaccurate narrative being promoted in the media.
“The decision to share information with the media is absolutely within my authority as deputy director,” he added. “I am one of three people in the FBI who has the independent authority to make that decision. People could disagree about the decisions I made … but the fact is this is not a leak.”
He’s claiming authority to disclose such information. It should be fairly simple to check the scope of his authority, as well as to decide if the information he admits to putting out there falls within his authority.
If he’s right, then he has a case. He did nothing wrong.
We’ll keep in mind that within weeks of being in office, President Trump disclosed sensitive intelligence that likely endangered an Israeli spy embedded with ISIS to Russian officials, behind closed doors.
His defenders were quick to point out that, as president, he can declassify anything, at will.
McCabe was the second in command with the FBI. You have to imagine that there were some details that were subject to his discretion.
We also know that both the former head of the FBI, James Comey, as well as the current FBI boss, Christopher Wray, were equally disgusted when McCabe stepped down. Both spoke highly of him.
Am I defending the indefensible, here?
Probably. I’m of the belief that if somebody has worked over 20 years at a job in law enforcement, you don’t wait until 2 days before their retirement to screw them out of their pension. It’s distasteful, and given Trump’s childish gloating immediately after, it seems politically motivated.
Former CIA Director John Brennan was one more person lashing out at the news, and in particular, Trump’s unprofessional attitude about it.
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you. https://t.co/uKppoDbduj
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) March 17, 2018
Ouch, dude.
And he may be right. This may be another bad political move on Trump’s part that comes back on him. We’ll have to wait and see.
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