When outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on the eve of his retirement last month, many Democrats protested that he was being cheated out of his pension for purely political reasons. But the administration’s official line—that McCabe had been fired for “lack of candor” after lying to investigators about press disclosures he authorized—turns out to have been right on the money, according to a Justice Department report released Friday afternoon.
The report, which formed the basis for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe, paints a damning picture: Unhappy about negative news reports about his alleged conflict of interest in overseeing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails—an investigation that at the time had not been confirmed by the FBI—McCabe authorized two officials to release information to rebut that narrative, tacitly confirming to the press that the investigation was underway. McCabe then proceeded to lie to investigators to cover his tracks: on four different occasions, once under oath, he said that he had not authorized the disclosure and did not know who had.
McCabe, the report states, “was authorized to disclose the existence of the CF [Clinton Foundation] Investigation publicly” if he judged such a disclosure to be in the public interest.
“However,” the report continues, “we concluded that McCabe’s decision to confirm the existence of the CF Investigation through an anonymously sourced quote, recounting the content of a phone call with a senior Department official in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of department leadership, was clearly not within the public interest exception.”
Whether or not the disclosure was permissible, the report concludes, repeatedly misleading investigators was certainly not.
McCabe’s attorney blasted the report on publication, saying it “utterly failed to support the decision to terminate Mr. McCabe.”
Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, said that the report confirmed that the Trump administration had made the right decision—and then some. Based on the report that he lied to investigators under oath, Rep. Robert Goodlatte said, it seemed McCabe “may have committed a federal crime.”
In a statement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley praised FBI investigators’ efforts to hold their leadership accountable.
“The actions by the line agents and career professionals at the FBI to hold leadership accountable merits our praise,” Grassley said. “Americans deserve honesty from their government, especially from those who work to secure justice. Lack of candor at any level of the FBI or Justice Department risks more than reputation; it also imperils the confidence needed for the agency to function effectively. Steps to hold itself accountable will go a long way in restoring faith in the FBI and Justice Department.”
No one was happier to see the report than Trump himself, who fired off a jubilant tweet shortly after it was published.
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
This was an odd response since the IG report makes clear both that McCabe is not Comey—their dispute is at the heart of the matter—and that the report is not about Russian collusion.
