Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is refusing to go quietly into that dark night, and he’s now encouraged a chorus of leftist, Obama-era allies to come sweeping to his defense.
McCabe was dismissed Friday after “both the Justice Department inspector general and the FBI office that handles discipline had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions,” The Washington Post reported.
So it’s not likely a surprise that McCabe engaged in some “candor” on his way out the door — and that the media soon shockingly discovered that McCabe kept journals full of personal memos detailing all of his interactions with President Donald Trump.
McCabe’s statement claims not that he committed any wrongdoing, but that he was simply the next target in an ongoing administration effort to discredit the FBI.
NEW: Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe releases statement on firing, says effort 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.” https://t.co/5P67ureTFT pic.twitter.com/Nl39v68wpu
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 17, 2018
“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 statement reads. “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.”
“I firmly believe that this is an ongoing effort to undermine my credibility because of the work that I did on the Russia case, because of the investigations that I oversaw and impacted that target this administration,” McCabe told Politico Saturday, noting that he “he has voted for every Republican presidential nominee” — that is, until Trump (though his wife, while running for office in Virginia, took tens of thousands from a close Clinton ally).
“They have every reason to believe that I could end up being a significant witness in whatever the special counsel comes up with, and so they are trying to create this counter-narrative that I am not someone who can be believed or trusted,” McCabe continued.
Ultimately, McCabe claims he was fired over a misunderstanding, but the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility doesn’t fire people over simple “misunderstandings.” The FBI has promised an Inspector General’s report that will give more details, perhaps due out this week.
But regardless of the cause behind McCabe’s firing, his clarion call to leftist allies did not go unheeded. As soon as McCabe blamed his firing on partisan tomfoolery, Obama-era officials came out of the woodwork to defend and support the supposedly “non-partisan” FBI deputy.
Former CIA director John Brennan rushed to McCabe’s defense.
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
And when he was, in turn, corrected, former U.N. Ambassador Samatha Powers ran to his defense.
Not a good idea to piss off John Brennan. https://t.co/VLg94OLL2R
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) March 17, 2018
McCabe has promised to continue speaking out.
