President Trump tweeted out a bathroom-themed dig at former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who is in the middle of an explosive media tour promoting his new book, dubbing former FBI Director James Comey the real ringleader.
“Remember this, Andrew McCabe didn’t go to the bathroom without the approval of Leakin’ James Comey!” Trump said Sunday evening.
Remember this, Andrew McCabe didn’t go to the bathroom without the approval of Leakin’ James Comey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019
Trump has attached the “Leakin'” label to Comey ever since the ex-FBI director leaked memos he wrote of his conversations with Trump to the media after he was fired from the bureau in the spring of 2017. Those memos described how the president asked for loyalty and for his then-FBI director to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Trump’s tweet Sunday evening was the latest barb Trump flung McCabe’s way after he identified himself as being the official who ordered an obstruction of justice investigation into Trump after he fired Comey.
During his media blitz, McCabe also provided on-the-record corroboration of months-old reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told Justice Department officials about wearing a “wire” to record conversations with Trump and that he had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment against the president to remove him from office in the days after Comey was fired. McCabe briefly served as acting FBI director after Comey was pushed out.
The Justice Department claims his version of events was “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
Earlier in the day, Trump accused McCabe and Rosenstein of planning to carry out an “illegal and treasonous” plan against him.
McCabe was fired from the FBI on March 16, 2018, less than two days before he planned to retire on his 50th birthday and collect a full pension, after the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General determined that he misled investigators about the role he had in leaking information to the Wall Street Journal in October 2016 about the investigation into the Clinton Foundation. In April, it was revealed that the Justice Department IG had referred its findings to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington for possible criminal charges while McCabe is mulling whether to sue the government to get his pension back.
McCabe told “60 Minutes”: “I believe I was fired because I opened a case against the president of the United States.”
McCabe also claimed Trump pressed Rosenstein to mention Russia the memo the president would cite as justification to fire Comey. After Rosentein neglected to do so, the president made the connection anyway during an interview with NBC a couple days later, saying the “Russia thing” was a factor in firing Comey.
About a week after Comey was fired, Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to be special counsel in charge of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
A DOJ source told CNN on Sunday that Rosenstein plans to leave the department by mid-March, but that it has nothing to do with McCabe’s claims over the past couple days and that Rosenstein always intended to leave after helping with the transition for his successor upon the confirmation of William Barr to be attorney general.
