Andrew McCabe Denounces Trump After FBI Firing: ‘Slander’

McCabe says Trump is waging an “ongoing war” on the special counsel investigation

Andrew McCabe
Alex Wong/Getty Images

In a blistering statement, Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said that he was fired as part of an “ongoing war” by President Trump against the special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election.

McCabe was fired late Friday night, less than two days before he was set to retire, after the conclusion of an investigation conducted by the Justice Department. According to CNN, the report from that investigation, which has not been made public, concludes 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.”

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Friday that he fired McCabe on the recommendation of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. According to Sessions, an “extensive and fair investigation” came to the conclusion that McCabe “made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”

But McCabe strongly rejected those accusations. In his own statement, he decried “an unrelenting assault” against the reputation and credibility of him and his family, which he said was deliberately “amplified and exacerbated” by President Trump.

McCabe, who served as acting FBI director for three months after James Comey was abruptly fired in May 2017, has had a combative relationship with Trump since he contradicted the president’s assertion that Comey was disliked by FBI rank and file.

Trump has called publicly for McCabe to be fired on several occasions. But McCabe said Friday that he is “being singled out,” and that the OPR investigation was “accelerated,” because his recent testimony to the House Intelligence Committee corroborates “former Director Comey’s accounts of his discussions with the President.”

McCabe further called the OPR report an “attack on my credibility” and “slander,” and said it is a component of “this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation.”

“Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work,” McCabe added.

Trump celebrated McCabe’s firing with a characteristic tweet.

Read McCabe’s full statement below:

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 it.

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 it clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. 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 same 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 have 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 misty fo chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was prevailed 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.

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