President Trump said Friday that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was a liar and “controlled by” former FBI Director James Comey after release of a report accusing McCabe of being dishonest under oath.
“DOJ just issued the McCabe report – which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED!” Trump tweeted after the release of a report from the Justice Department’s nonpartisan inspector general.
“McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!” Trump tweeted.
DOJ just issued the McCabe report – which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
The inspector general report said McCabe “lacked candor” on four separate occasions, including three times while under oath, regarding his decision to authorize leaks for an October 2016 article in the Wall Street Journal.
McCabe was fired last month by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, hours before he was scheduled to retire, in relation to his alleged misconduct. McCabe’s termination was recommended by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
After he was fired, McCabe raised $568,496 on the website GoFundMe for a legal effort to challenge the effects of his firing on pension payments.
Trump’s association of McCabe with Comey comes as the White House wages an aggressive effort to discredit Comey, who Trump fired in May 2017, ahead of the release of a tell-all book next week.
After Comey was fired, McCabe briefly oversaw the FBI’s investigation of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia, before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders contended in a statement read at the daily White House press briefing Friday that Comey “will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack who broke his sacred trust with the President of the United States, the dedicated agents of the FBI, and the American people he vowed to faithfully serve.”
