James Clapper, formerly the director of national intelligence, penned a glowing testimonial to FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2018 in an strenuous effort to save Andrew McCabe’s job, calling the fired FBI deputy director a man of “self-effacing humility” and “impeccable integrity.”
The lengthy and apparently heartfelt handwritten letter by Clapper appeared amid hundreds of pages of newly released FBI documents made public through Freedom of Information Act litigation carried out by the left-leaning watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The note from Clapper to Wray, dated Feb. 25, 2018, came the same month that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz completed his investigation concluding that McCabe improperly disclosed investigative information on the Clinton Foundation to the media and misled investigators about it. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on March 16, 2018, just before his retirement was to begin, citing Horowitz’s conclusions.
Clapper, now a strident critic of President Trump who served as DNI from 2010 through 2017, was effusive in his praise of McCabe, calling him “steady, straightforward, candid, forthright, and honest” and claiming that the “biased scrutiny” and the “firestorm of criticism” against the embattled bureau deputy was “completely unjustified and profoundly unfair.”
“I would hope you will consider my observations, which I know are shared uniformly by virtually everyone who knows Andy, and will use your influential voice to ensure he is able to complete his career and retire after his 21 years of distinguished service to the bureau and this nation,” Clapper wrote to Wray.
After a lengthy investigation, Horowitz did not agree with Clapper’s assessment of McCabe. The DOJ watchdog’s report concluded that McCabe had improperly authorized his subordinates to confirm the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation to the Wall Street Journal as part of an effort by McCabe to push back against claims that he was unfairly favorable toward Clinton. Comey told Horowitz he didn’t give McCabe permission to authorize these leaks.
Up to that point, Comey had refused to acknowledge the existence of the Clinton-related investigation publicly, and Horowitz recounted how McCabe lacked candor multiple times when he denied authorizing the disclosure when speaking with Comey, with FBI investigators, and with the inspector general’s office.
Horowitz concluded that “the evidence is substantial” that McCabe misled investigators “knowingly and intentionally,” and he wrote that McCabe violated FBI Offense Code 2.6, which relates to lack of candor while under oath.
Horowitz forwarded his report to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility to make a recommendation to Sessions about how to punish McCabe, and the newly public emails shed some light on the FBI’s behind-the-scenes discussions. In early March 2018, then-OPR leader Candice Will told then-associate deputy director David Bowdich about their cooperation with Horowitz.
“I sent the DAG [then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein] a short email advising that FBI OPR had received the referral from the OIG [Office of Inspector General], we are actively working it, we anticipate providing a proposed action to the subject this week, we will make the file available to the subject — all in accordance with standard procedures — for him to prepare a written response,” Will wrote. “In doing so, I let the [Department of Justice] know that we are doing what should be done, not slow walking — we are following established procedures.”
Bowdich thanked her and predicted that “we will be second guessed by some every step of the way however this ends up.”
Sessions fired McCabe the month after Horowitz’s investigation concluded, stating that McCabe “made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
In August of this year, McCabe filed a lawsuit against DOJ, claiming he’d been targeted by Trump and that his firing was unlawful and politically motivated. McCabe accused Sessions, along with Wray and others, of serving as Trump’s “personal enforcers” rather than “the nation’s highest law enforcement officials” and of catering to Trump’s “unlawful whims” instead of “honoring their oaths to uphold the Constitution.” McCabe caught Trump’s attention during his time working alongside former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump also fired.
CNN hired McCabe as a contributor later in August, and news emerged recently that DOJ is close to reaching a decision on whether to formally charge McCabe for leaking and then lying about it.
McCabe is also likely being scrutinized by Horowitz as part of his investigation of allegations of abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The surveillance warrant applications targeting Trump associate Carter Page required the approval of top members of the FBI and DOJ. Former FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson testified to Congress last year that McCabe and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates approved the application before it got to her desk, an unusual process that led her to not second-guess her higher-ups.
