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Firing Andrew McCabe may have been the dumbest Drumphf move yet

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Firing Andrew McCabe may have been the dumbest Drumphf move yet

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 21: Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (2nd L) is escorted by U.S. Capitol Police before a meeting with members of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees in the Rayburn House Office Building December 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee for ten hours on Tuesday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

So you do 22 years at your dream job, rise to the highest position you can without a Presidential appointment and just one day before your 50th Birthday when your pension is fully vested — two days before your already scheduled retirement — your boss pulls a dick more like this.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe — and as CNN’s Evan Pérez noted, was terminated just 26 hours before he became eligible for his pension.

In his statement, Sessions said that he came to the conclusion to fire McCabe “after an extensive and fair investigation” of allegations that McCabe made an “unauthorized disclosure to the news media.”

The New York Times reported that the former acting director of the bureau was fired “after the Justice Department rejected an appeal that would have let him retire this weekend.” Responding to the Times, McCabe accused the attorney general of trying to smear him. “The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,” McCabe said. “This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.”

McCabe is of course referring to the fact that he was in the room for some of the phone calls between Trump and James Comey where Trump repeatedly requested that Comey “remove the cloud” of the Russia investigation from over his head, and also publicly announce that Trump himself “wasn’t under investigation.” Which he wasn’t until he fired Comey. Comey also shared his notes about his other private conversations with Trump among his staff, which included McCabe and nearly all of which besides McCabe had already been removed or had left their positions.

As he says, he’s a witness.

And all of this is really about damaging his credibility and therefore his ability to provide negative testimony about Trump.

Now I’ve had my issues with McCabe for quite some time ever since he broke DOJ protocol to go running to Reince Prebus to tell him that a story from the NYTimes about various members of the Trump campaign being in contact with suspected Russian intelligence was “bullshit.”

Then Prebus asked him to share that information with the press “on background” — and he refused.

Sean Spicer had a pretty crazy press gaggle about it.

Spicer: No no no no. Let’s reverse engineer this. 1) The Deputy Director comes to us, we didn’t go to them. This difference is in… [crosstalk] and I will … [he digresses for a minute about doing a gaggle not precluding doing something on camera later]…. the Deputy Director came to us Chief of Staff of the RN.. of the White House, and literally said “The story is false.” So here are the two scenarios: One is that the Chief of Staff says nothing and just stares at him. Which is what some of folks in this room believe he should have done. He should have just sat there and said.., which...now...if any of you, the second piece of this is nine times out of ten when I deal with any of you guys and I’ll say “we had a big problem with the story in X publication and X outlet” well the first thing I get asked is “Did you push back? Did you ask for a correction?” And I think in this case… the point is all we simply did was say “Wow, you’re bring us information, saying that something, a story in the New York Times is not accurate. So is there something that you’re doing to let other journalists know because they’re asking us?”

Now that we know that Kushner talked it Gorkov, Manafort was reaching out to Deripaska via Kilminik, Flynn was having tons of calls with Kislyak, Papadopoulos talked to Mifsud and Millian, and Carter Page talked to execs from Rosneft and the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia — that story doesn’t look so much like “bullshit” anymore.

And now we learn that McCabe has been fired because at some previous point he did allow some of his staff, from various reports apparently Lisa Page, to talk to the Wall Street Journal about a problematic report that needed to be corrected. And the report was allegedly about the Clinton email investigation where the news wasn’t exactly favorable to Clinton.

And Trump is unhappy that he did that?

No, this is about something else, entirely. It’s about Comey. And Trump’s lawyers are exstatic about it.

President Donald Trump’s personal defense lawyer, John Dowd, told The Daily Beaston Saturday that he is praying for an end to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Dowd, confirming he was speaking on behalf of President Trump, hoped that the controversial firing of Andrew McCabe was only the beginning. Without outright calling for Mueller to be fired, the president’s attorney clearly made his hopes known for “an end” to the investigation.

“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd said.

Yeah, I don't follow that logic either — but it is obvious these guys think they can just make everything go away by eliminating people that annoy them. Well, if you listen to McCabe’s statement after he was fired, that’s ain’t likely.

I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 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.

The investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI’s involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

This is actually a key point right here, from reading the Page and Strzok text that indicates there was indeed a conflict between FBI and DOJ over re-starting the Clinton investigation which was then being headed by Loretta Lynch. DOJ was against it, FBI was for it. Strzok wrote the first draft of the letter that re-opened the Clinton email investigation and Lisa talked to the WSJ about it. For that — from what I can tell — Page was sidelined by Lynch which is why she complained about not being part of the “Secret Society” as from that point forward the others then met about the Clinton/Weiner/Russia investigations without her.

None of that makes them come off as “Anti-Trump” or “Friends of Hillary.”

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. [Page] As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. 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.

Here is the reality: I am being 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. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey’s accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG’s focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday’s comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.

I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. To have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.

I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.

The fact is that McCabe is now quite obviously pissed off. He has reason to be. If he wasn’t already a pretty negative witness for Trump before — he certainly is now.

That’s exactly how former Homeland Security Analyst Julia Kayyem sees it as they discuss that the IG investigation was specifically rush to get ahead of McCabe’s retirement date.

Speaking with CNN host, Julia Kayyem said she wasn’t worried about McCabe’s pension – that has been put in jeopardy by the last minute firing — saying he will more than make up the difference with a tell-all book, before adding that it the Trump administration should be the ones who should be worried now that McCabe has been “unleashed.”

“I want to get away from process, away from politics, away from you know just the gut wrenching feeling all of us feel for McCabe’s pension,” Kayyem began. “Trust me, he is going to be fine. There is a lot of book agents calling him right now. But let’s talk about Mueller, because that’s what this is about.”

“Looking at what happened tonight outside the context of the Russia investigation, you’re missing the big story here,” she continued. “Because of McCabe’s knowledge of the investigation early on since he was part of the investigation, and then, of course, his contemporaneous knowledge of why Comey was fired. Those two things are relevant not just for obstruction of justice but also for what the special prosecutor is looking for. So are the Trump people stupid? Because they have now unleashed McCabe.”

Just remember that McCabe wasn’t informed of this decision directly, they sent an email to his work account after he had already left for the day on a Friday night when he wasn’t planning on coming back on Monday. He found out he was fired when a CNN reporter called him for a comment about it.

It’s almost as dick a move as when they fired Comey while he was visiting the LA Field officer and he found out about it because it came up on the Fox News Chyron behind him while he was talking to new agents. Then when he was allowed to fly him on the same DOJ jet that he had arrived in Trump called up McCabe to complain.

WASHINGTON — The day after he fired James Comey as director of the FBI, a furious President Donald Trump called the bureau's acting director, Andrew McCabe, demanding to know why Comey had been allowed to fly on an FBI plane from Los Angeles back to Washington after he was dismissed, according to multiple people familiar with the phone call.

McCabe told the president he hadn’t been asked to authorize Comey’s flight, but if anyone had asked, he would have approved it, three people familiar with the call recounted to NBC News.

The president was silent for a moment and then turned on McCabe, suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser — an apparent reference to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia that McCabe’s wife made in 2015.

McCabe replied, “OK, sir.” Trump then hung up the phone.

Yes, indeed — like the Kraken — they have now unleashed the McCabe.

He’s got absolutely no reason not to join with Comey and Meuller and help burn Trump’s Administration to the ground, after the way he’s been treated.

I don’t think that’s going to be a good move for them.
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Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 1:25:05 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton

Oh goody, [as noted in the comments] McCabe as an experienced FBI field agent kept notes on Trump just like Comey did.

The Associated Press is reporting, based on a source “with direct knowledge” of the situation that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe documented interactions with President Donald Trump in contemporaneous documentation in writing.

The source claims the memos are similar to those written by former FBI Director James Comey.

“I don’t see how Trump isn’t completely f*cked,” said one senior White House official concluded after the existence of the Comey Memos was revealed in May.

Attempting to deal with the fallout out the Comey Memos was described as the “worst day yet” for the administration.

Yep, completely fucked.

Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 1:33:05 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton McCabe is already getting jobs offers.

Responding to a comment by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe might still be eligible for his retirement, a Democratic lawmaker from Wisconsin offered McCabe a 2-day temp job to help him regain his reward for 21 years of government service.

Taking to Twitter, Rep. Mark Pocan linked to a tweet from Mitchell, who said the former FBI official might qualify if he’s hired by a member of Congress, adding they he would like to hear from McCabe about the Trump “crime family.”

So he would again be a government employee at age 50 — and would qualify for his pension and retirement. Whoops.
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Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 1:44:00 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton

And the WH is a PO’d that Dowd may have given up their preferred end game.

“Abby what exactly is Trump’s lawyer saying and on whose behalf is he saying it?” Whitfield asked.

“There’s been a lot of confusion this morning over John Dowd’s comments about this McCabe situation,” Phillip explained. “He has now issued two statements today, one initially saying that he was speaking on behalf of the president and then clarifying later that he was not speaking on behalf of the president, but he was speaking in his own personal capacity.”

Phillip, speaking live from the White House, explained what she had learned.

“Clearly, we are hearing from sources close to the president that they are not happy with this slip-up on the part of John Dowd” Phillip reported “and there’s a new statement out here trying to clarify this is not a call for Mueller to be fired or for this investigation to be ended abruptly.”

Since there are other reports that the interview between Mueller and Trump may be scheduled as soon as next week — I’m sure this is going to make for an awkward conversational topic.
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Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 2:11:39 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton

McCabe has also said that for some reason Trump was obsessed with his wife and brought up her failed State Senate bid every time they talked.

During a 2015 campaign for the state senate, McCabe’s wife Jill accepted a contribution from political action committee for then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Because McAuliffe was an ally of the Clintons in the past, Trump decided it meant McCabe was working against him. McCabe, however, worked against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election with the FBI investigation into the email server, but Trump never cared about the facts. Instead, he was seemingly fixated by McCabe’s wife.

In at last four occasions, Trump taunted him about it being a “mistake or “problem,” and called the man’s wife a “loser.” Trump even raised the issue with former FBI Director James Comey at one point, “Out of the blue,” he told CNN’s Pamela Brown Friday.

Trump would say things “like, ‘What’s wrong with that deputy director of yours?'” The comment implied that somehow McCabe was politically motivated against Trump, which McCabe said is “absolutely not true.”

McCabe’s wife may have run as Democrat and been supported by Terry McAuliffe’s SuperPac — but McCabe himself is a registered Republican.

This stuff doesn’t help the argument that this sudden vindictive firing wasn’t part of a plot to intimidate McCabe as a witness.

Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 2:16:57 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton Great now we’re getting into tit for tat twitter smack downs between Trump and Comey.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!

1:34 PM - Mar 17, 2018 93.7K 72.2K people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy

James Comey ✔ @Comey Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.

1:43 PM - Mar 17, 2018 300K 119K people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Ohh, Snap!

Saturday, Mar 17, 2018 · 2:30:29 PM EDT · Frank Vyan Walton

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