Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was not amused when President Trump took to Twitter to celebrate his firing one week ago.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, McCabe said the president’s trash talking of someone who was just thrust back into private citizenship was “unhinged.”
“I was sad, but not surprised, to see that such unhinged public attacks on me would continue into my life after my service to the FBI,” McCabe wrote. “President Trump’s cruelty reminded me of the days immediately following the firing of James B. Comey, as the White House desperately tried to push the falsehood that people in the FBI were celebrating the loss of our director. The president’s comments about me were equally hurtful and false, which shows that he has no idea how FBI people feel about their leaders.”
McCabe was fired on Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions — less than 48 hours before he was able to retire with a full pension. He has been under internal investigation over the FBI’s role in federal inquiries during the 2016 election.
“Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI — A great day for Democracy,” Trump tweeted afterwards.
McCabe defended himself in his op-ed, saying that although he had been accused of “lack of candor,” that was not the case and that he did not “knowingly” mislead investigators.
“At worst, I was not clear in my responses, and because of what was going on around me may well have been confused and distracted — and for that I take full responsibility,” McCabe wrote. “But that is not a lack of candor. And under no circumstances could it ever serve as the basis for the very public and extended humiliation of my family and me that the administration, and the president personally, have engaged in over the past year.”
Even so, McCabe spoke highly of the FBI and reassured young people to work for the agency or other agencies and noted that working for the FBI is the “best job you will ever have.”
“To those men and women, I say: Fear not. Set the headlines aside and give in to what draws you to this work. The country needs you,” McCabe wrote.
“There is nothing like having the opportunity to be a part of the greatest law-enforcement organization in the world, working every day for goals that you respect and cherish,” he said in closing. “It is the best job you will ever have. Even if a president decides to attack you and your family. Even if you get fired on a Friday night, one day from your retirement.”
