Trump Blasts McCabe Over 'Russia Hoax': 'Disgrace to FBI and Country'
President slams former FBI director after Russia probe admission
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President Donald Trump called out former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as “disgrace” to the FBI and the country while criticizing the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
CBS aired excerpts on an upcoming “60 Minutes” interview with McCabe which prompted Trump's response.
“Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a ‘poor little Angel’ when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax –a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating,” Trump said, referring to the Justice Department’s inspector general report.
“Part of the ‘insurance policy’ in case I won…Many of the top FBI were fired, forced to leave, or left,” Trump continued.
“McCabe’s wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign – he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
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Trump was referring to the text messages between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in which they talked about “insurance policy” should he become president.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office -that there’s no way he gets elected –, but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” Strzok texted Page on Aug. 15, 2016.
“It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40.”
The text was exposed following the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review.
Trump has repeatedly blasted McCabe’s wife, Jill, over donations to her campaign, who received $467,000 to her campaign from Virginia Gov. Terry McAullife, a Democrat and Clinton ally.
Trump highlighted that the donations from a Clinton ally are 'proof' that McCabe did not implement an impartial probe into Clinton's handling of classified information on her private email server
However, the inspector general said there was “no evidence” connecting political views with “specific investigative decisions.”
CBS's excerpts from the McCabe interview details the eight days between the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and the appointment of Robert Mueller.
“I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage. And that was something that troubled me greatly,” McCabe said in one excerpt.
Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019
....Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabe’s wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign - he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019
McCabe, whose wife took a truckload of campaign cash from a top Clinton donor and confidant, colluded with Clinton campaign contractors and the foreign bagman of a sanctioned Russian oligarch to try and take down a duly elected U.S. president. https://t.co/J24idg4Sxs
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 14, 2019
Wait, so is McCabe admitting that he attempted to lead a deep state coup against the President? #WitchHunt https://t.co/1kcBLFd8CU
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 14, 2019
Rod Rosenstein has no business working at the Department of Justice, and if these latest reports are true, he should not only resign immediately but come before Congress and answer questions
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) February 14, 2019
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McCabe's book focuses on Trump allegedly celebrating the firing of Comey saying he was getting positive feedback for the decision.
Pelley went on to ask, “how long was it after that that you decided to start the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations involving the president?”
“I think the next day, I met with the team investigating the Russia cases,” McCabe confirmed.
“And I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward.”
He added: “I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that was I removed quickly and reassigned or fired and the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace. I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground. And if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they’d made that decision.”
According to Fox News: In the excerpts of his book, McCabe also detailed his role urging Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel.
On Thursday, Pelley detailed other portions of his sit-down with McCabe on CBS' "This Morning.”
Pelley said McCabe reported meetings at the Justice Department after Comey's firing to discuss “whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be drawn together to remove the president under the 25th Amendment.”
Last year, we reported an unexpected document dump by the FBI revealed the Justice Department investigated McCabe as a suspect for leaking classified intel in the Spygate scandal.
According to the document released by the DoJ, McCabe appears to have been identified as of one four key SpyGate leakers inside the upper echelons of law enforcement.
In reaction to the interview, a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News that Rosenstein "again rejects Mr. McCabe's recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect."
"The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references. As the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment," the spokesman said in a statement Thursday.
"Finally, the Deputy Attorney General never spoke to Mr. Comey about appointing a Special Counsel. The Deputy Attorney General appointed Special Counsel Mueller and directed that Mr. McCabe is removed from any participation in that investigation. After this removal, DOJ’s Inspector General found that Mr. McCabe did not tell the truth to federal authorities on multiple occasions, leading to his termination from the FBI.”
