Rep. Steven Cohen, D-Tenn., said Monday that by firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the Trump administration is signaling other federal workers that their own jobs and pensions are at risk if they continue to investigate his administration.
“It was a shot across the bow at other government officials who are doing their jobs,” Cohen said on the House floor. “Justice Department officials, FBI officials, law enforcement officials who love this country and put their lives on the line.”
“And if they don’t agree with the Mueller investigation continuing, or if they see concerns about the United States president and his campaign and some involvement with Russia, or obstruction of justice or violations of emoluments clauses, that they too risk their jobs, and risk their pensions and risk their financial security,” he said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on Friday, just days before he was set to receive full retirement benefits on Sunday. The move led to some criticism that Sessions too quickly punished McCabe for reasons that are outlined in an inspector general report that has yet to be made public.
Sessions said he fired McCabe after finding that he made an unauthorized disclosure to the press and “lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
But Cohen argued on the floor that the process was “rushed,” and denied McCabe his due-process rights.
“I don’t know what the cause was, but the process was awful,” he said. “It was rushed, and it seemed to violate the due-process rights of this career federal employee.”
“And then to watch the president of the United States, a multi-billionaire, spike the ball on being able to deprive a 20-year federal employee of a pension, was cruel, un-American, and mean-spirited,” Cohen added.
Over the weekend, McCabe’s lawyer agreed that the way he was fired should make all federal workers “shudder in the knowledge that they could be next.”
This story was corrected to clarify it was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, not President Trump, who fired McCabe.
