https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/politics ... index.htmlEx-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is fired -- and fires back
(CNN)Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday, less than two days shy of his retirement, ending the career of an official who had risen to serve as second-in-command at the bureau.
McCabe had more recently been regularly taunted by President Donald Trump and besieged by accusations that he had misled internal investigators at the Justice Department.
In a blistering statement Friday night, McCabe said his firing is part of a larger effort to discredit the FBI and the special counsel's investigation.
"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," McCabe said. "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."
Shortly after midnight, Trump tweeted.
"Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy," Trump said. "Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"
McCabe had been expected to retire this Sunday, on his 50th birthday, when he would have become eligible to receive early retirement benefits.
But Friday's termination could place a portion of his anticipated pension, earned after more than two decades of service, in significant jeopardy.
The origin of his dramatic fall stems from an internal review conducted by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. That report -- the details of which have not been publicly released -- is said to conclude that McCabe misled investigators about his role in directing other officials at the FBI to speak to The Wall Street Journal about his involvement in a public corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation, according to a source briefed on it.
CNN reported on Wednesday that the findings in Horowitz's report on McCabe were referred to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, staffed with career officials, who recommended McCabe's termination.
McCabe, accompanied by his lawyer, tried making a last-ditch effort Thursday to avoid the firing, meeting with officials at the deputy attorney general's office at the Justice Department for several hours while Sessions was traveling, but to no avail.
"After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)," Sessions said in a statement late Friday.
"The FBI's OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor − including under oath − on multiple occasions."
First of all this obviously plays into Il Boobce's hands, giving him another diversion flag to wave, and it's absolutely nauseating to see him crowing about it and using it as an opportunity to launch yet another vile and groundless smear on James Comey...
And it is of course indisputable that Trump and his minions are, as McCabe states, engaged in an ongoing "war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation"...
And as a rock-solid supporter of an early end to the Trump Presidency, no one would be happier than I would to be able to point to this dismissal as yet another example of this on going war....
However, because of the way this decision came about, I just can't do it...
All Sessions did here, was accept the recommendation made by the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, (The same Obama-appointed IG who told Sessions he needed to recuse himself from the Russiagate investigation; the same official whose integrity was publicly assailed just two weeks ago by Trump, who called him "Obama's guy") after he and his staff had conducted a thorough and professional investigation.
That's the way a process like this should work. The details of his investigation have not yet been made public, but there is zero reason to believe (and plenty of evidence to the contrary) that Horowitz is a person who would be a part of Trump's on-going obstruction and diversion efforts. Until and unless there is any evidence to say otherwise, I am going to assume that Horowitz made his recommendation based on an honest and professional evaluation of the facts and the relevant code of conduct rules and the law.
And while it's extremely unfortunate that this particular situation has resulted in a momentary propaganda benefit for Trump, frankly I am much more comfortable with Sessions having a practice of accepting the recommendations of IG Horowitz, then I would be to have him rejecting them.
I'm pretty confident that a lot more of these recommendations will go against Trump's interests than will serve them.
