The Hill continues to post misleading summaries of articles on Twitter.
On Saturday morning, the outlet posted a tweet claiming “Ex-top Trump DOJ official Andrew McCabe banned from talking about upcoming report on CNN.” There are several implications here that point to nefarious deeds. “Banned” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, making it appear that since McCabe was a “top Trump DOJ official,” it was the administration banning him from talking about the report. Or perhaps it was his new employer, CNN, who was banning him from speaking about it.
WATCH: Ex-top Trump DOJ official Andrew McCabe banned from talking about upcoming report on CNN https://t.co/WYigTJKOTY pic.twitter.com/JBCGrolL7y
— The Hill (@thehill) November 23, 2019
The actual article is by Joe Concha, who is not a left-wing hack, and uses the word “restricted” instead of “banned,” and explains that the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) is keeping McCabe from discussing the upcoming IG report into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Concha also noted that an unnamed FBI official is now under investigation “for allegedly manipulating a document used to obtain a FISA warrant of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the 2016 presidential campaign.”
McCabe was able to review the report but is unable to discuss – or leak – what he has seen. From Concha:
McCabe appeared on “Cuomo Prime Time” with anchor Chris Cuomo on Thursday night after the CNN.com story broke earlier Thursday.
“My understanding is this: Andrew, you can’t talk about it,” Cuomo said in introducing McCabe. “You’re restricted from discussing the report of the investigation.”
“I’ve currently reviewed the report. I’m in the process of doing that,” McCabe replied. “I’ve agreed not to speak about it in any way until that process is over,”
“OK, I’ll respect that,” Cuomo said.
McCabe was fired from the FBI in March 2018, just before his retirement date, for improperly disclosing information to the media about the investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. That investigation, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, found no evidence to suggest collusion. McCabe, however, was recommended for firing for “unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.
CNN reported Thursday that an unnamed former FBI lawyer “is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser.”
“The finding is expected to be part of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide,” the outlet reported. “Horowitz turned over evidence on the allegedly altered document to John Durham, the federal prosecutor appointed early this year by Attorney General William Barr to conduct a broad investigation of intelligence gathered for the Russia probe by the CIA and other agencies, including the FBI. The altered document is also at least one focus of Durham’s criminal probe.”
Horowitz’s team confronted the person accused of altering the documents, who “admitted to the change.”
It is unclear how much of the FISA document was changed and whether it was significant enough to sway the FISA court into approving the investigation into Page.