A Republican senator has argued that the sworn testimonies of fired FBI Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe related to a 2016 leak about a Clinton Foundation investigation were “irreconcilably contradictory.”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called upon Attorney General William Barr and current FBI Director Christopher Wray to release all relevant information to determine who was lying.
Cruz sent the letter to Barr and Wray on Thursday, saying “we now know that this leak was authorized” by McCabe and that “McCabe initially told FBI agents under oath that he did not authorize the leak and did not know who did … but when confronted later with contrary evidence, he confessed both to knowing about and authorizing the leak.” Cruz added that “we do not know, however, whether and to what extent” Comey “was aware of and authorized this leak after the fact.”
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in February 2018 detailing multiple instances in which McCabe “lacked candor” with Comey, FBI investigators, and inspector general investigators about his authorization to leak sensitive information to the Wall Street Journal that revealed the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
Horowitz’s report noted that McCabe said “he and Comey discussed the October 30 WSJ article in person on October 31, 2016” and that Comey “just kind of accepted it” and “thought it was a ‘good’ idea that they presented this information” to the press.
Cruz pressed McCabe on this during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in November, first quoting a news article that said that McCabe “insisted he told his boss that he had authorized disclosure about the Clinton investigation, but Mr. Comey has denied this claim, and Mr. McCabe told investigators that Mr. Comey knew he had authorized disclosure and agreed it was a good idea.” Cruz then asked McCabe, “Is that your testimony to this Committee?”
McCabe replied under oath: “That is my recollection.”
At a May 2017 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley asked Comey: “Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?” Comey said: “No.”
At a September hearing before the same committee, Comey told Cruz, “I stand by the testimony … that I gave in May of 2017… I’m not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, but mine is the same today.”
In Thursday’s letter, Cruz told Barr and Wray: “Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe’s statements are irreconcilably contradictory. Mr. McCabe says that he told Mr. Comey of the leak and that Mr. Comey approved — effectively authorizing the leak after the fact. Mr. Comey, on the other hand, has said that he neither authorized the leak nor knew of Mr. McCabe’s involvement.”
“One of them is lying under oath — a federal crime. 18 U.S.C. § 1621. The American people deserve to know who. So that the American people may know the truth, please provide to the fullest extent possible any and all emails, records, communications, and any other documents relevant to determining whether Mr. Comey knew of and approved of the FBI’s leak of information pertaining to the Clinton investigation to the Wall Street Journal.”
In February, the Justice Department announced it had declined to pursue criminal charges against McCabe.
Horowitz wrote in 2018 that McCabe’s actions were “designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership” and “violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct.” The watchdog concluded that “the evidence is substantial” that McCabe misled investigators “knowingly and intentionally.” Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on March 16, 2018, just before McCabe’s retirement.
McCabe’s legal team said his story changed because he was surprised by the question during his May 2017 FBI interview and was preoccupied. They said once Comey was fired later that day, he didn’t think about his answers again as he dealt with leading the bureau for a time.
Horowitz concluded McCabe’s account of his May 2017 interview “was wholly unpersuasive.”
McCabe is suing the Justice Department for wrongful termination, claiming that he was fired as part of a broader plan by President Trump to “discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him.”
The Justice Department defended its 2018 firing of McCabe and sought to dismiss his lawsuit last November. In September, a federal judge said McCabe’s lawsuit could move forward.
McCabe testified in November that he was “shocked and disappointed” by the “errors and mistakes” in the FBI’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications seeking the authority to wiretap onetime Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The former FBI official signed off on the third FISA renewal in June 2017, but said last month that he wouldn’t have done so if he knew then what he knows now.
Horowitz’s late 2019 report criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page and for the bureau’s reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited and Democrat-funded dossier.
