Andrew McCabe Just Fired Back At Trump And Session Over His Firing

Let’s be real, McCabe was fired because he is a witness in the Russia investigation. 

[read McCabe’s full statement below]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe at around 10 pm Friday night, just two days before he was set to retire. McCabe’s firing could potentially put in jeopardy his pension.

In an interview responding to his firing, McCabe blasted back at President Trump over the political motivations for his firing.

McCabe gave an interview to The New York Times following his firing.

Here are some of the most important quotes:

  • “The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong. This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.”
  • “It’s incredibly unfair to my reputation after a 21-year career,” McCabe said. He said the president’s public attacks were aimed at several targets. “The real damage is being done to the F.B.I., law enforcement and the special counsel.”
  • “The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service.”
  • “I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure… Nothing was further from the truth.”
  • “This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals… It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel.”
  • “Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey.”

Here is Andrew McCabe’s full statement responding to his firing:

“For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.”

“Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey’s accounts of his discussions with the President.” 

“The OIG’s focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday’s comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.” 

“This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally,’ McCabe’s statement continued. “It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.”

Read the full New York Times piece here.

[image via CSPAN screenshot]