FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been attacked by President Donald Trump, stepped down Monday, multiple sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
McCabe will remain on the FBI payroll until he is eligible to retire with full benefits in mid-March, the sources said.
One source said McCabe was exercising his retirement eligibility and characterized his decision as "stepping aside."
McCabe has been at the center of ongoing tensions between the White House and the FBI and has reportedly been under pressure to quit from Trump, whose presidential campaign is being investigated for possible collusion with Russia.
Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, he met with McCabe in the Oval Office and asked him whom he had voted for in the 2016 election.
Trump, the officials told The Post, also vented his anger at McCabe over hundreds of thousand dollars in donations that his wife, a Democrat, received for her failed 2015 Virginia state Senate bid from a political action committee controlled by a close friend of Hillary Clinton.
When reached for comment Trump had nothing to say on the matter, but this has his fingerprints all over it.
Trump has been attacking McCabe for months on Twitter, and of course also pressured Jeff Sessions to fire him as reported recently.
Oddly enough while NBC News was careful not to characterize this as a firing, Fox News just laid it on the line:
Top FBI official Andrew McCabe has been "removed" from his post as deputy director, Fox News is told, leaving the bureau after months of conflict-of-interest complaints from Republicans including President Trump.
A source confirmed to Fox News that McCabe is taking “terminal leave” – effectively taking vacation until he reaches his planned retirement in a matter of weeks. As such, he will not be reporting to work at the FBI anymore.
Other sources are also reporting that this was not McCabe's decision alone.
Yes, as that tweet suggests Andrew McCabe was indeed one of Comey's backups in his story about Trump pressuring him to drop the Michael Flynn investigation.#BREAKING: Andrew McCabe - one of three FBI officials who could corroborate Comey's account of Trump pressuring him to drop the Russia probe before firing him - was just "forced" to step down as FBI deputy director https://t.co/1cdKBwet7m— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) January 29, 2018
And perhaps that, more than anything else, put a target on his back.
Of course this "forcing out" changes absolutely nothing about that, as Mueller can still, and probably already has, interviewed Andrew McCabe.
However it does certainly add more fuel to that obstructionism fire, now doesn't it?
Update: FBI field agents were taken by surprise.
Courtesy of Raw Story:
Appearing on CNN Monday, reporter Shimon Prokupecz said that he’s heard from leaders in FBI field offices across the country who say they and their teams are frustrated that they are first hearing about these resignations through news reports and not through official channels.
“This comes as a surprise to many people,” Prokupecz said of McCabe’s departure. “Certainly the initial reaction from folks in the field — and these are the field agents and the field leaders at the field offices — is that people are pretty angry right now. They are hearing about FBI leadership moves from the news.”
Prokupecz said that because news of McCabe’s departure broke in the news before it was announced internally, it has added to a sense of chaos engulfing the agency.
“There is some concern among field leaders, among field agents among the FBI staff about what the hell is going on and who is running the FBI,” he explained, before noting that McCabe’s abrupt departure was very similar to the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
I think "What the hell is going?" on is a very reasonable question to be asking right about now.
Not only will MacCabe still testify but there is nothing holding him back now. After he retires, he'll be spilling a lot about the criminal and traitor currently inhabiting the Oval Office.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a win for Trump. In fact, it is a loss as it simply inflates his turnover numbers.
Worst. President Ever.
Typhoid Trump, everyone around him "dies".
Deletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/trump-boiled-anger-aboard-air-force-one-learning-doj-didnt-want-memo-released-report/
ReplyDeleteAs a Member of the House Judiciary Committee, I read the partisan, classified Nunes House Intel memo. I can't talk about it. However, here's an analogy. https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/958063395265241089
DeleteRemember Geraldo Rivera and the infamous Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults? It's like that, but Geraldo Rivera has more integrity.
DeleteThis 👇 is a big damn deal that seems to have been missed by news networks today.
ReplyDeletehttp://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/332991-fbi-raids-office-of-gop-consulting-firm-in-maryland?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Wonder who's flipping next?
GeorgiaPeach
Strategic Campaign Group
DeleteMay 11, 2017
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rodney-frelinghuysen-retire_us_5a6f51c2e4b06e25326a404a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
ReplyDeleteOT ?"Natalia Veselnitskaya, who organized the notorious Trump Tower meeting, has been named in an explosive Swiss court case about bribery, corruption, and double-agents." "The officer, identified only as Victor K., traveled to Moscow—against the expressed wishes of his superiors—where he spoke to Natalia Veselnitskaya, the lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower.
ReplyDeleteThe meeting was reportedly set up by Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan—from the same rogue department that was apparently responsible for offering intel on Hillary Clinton to be shared at the Trump Tower meeting and the Kremlin’s further plots to influence U.S. politics."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tower-russian-lawyer-natalia-veselnitskaya-exposed-in-swiss-corruption-case?ref=home
He is not forced out. He is using all of his personal time etc to get the heck out of the insane freak show about to be to go down. He can rest up before the criminal trials and impeachment process begins. All tea bags better resign before they get charged.
ReplyDeleteT bag Republicans are finished.
ReplyDeleteMemo to the Trump Crime Family: It is NOT a good idea to piss off the people who have the secrets, the wiretap tapes, the subpoenas, and who carry guns and handcuffs and drive Suburbans with blacked-out windows. Fuck with them at your peril . . . and you Trumps are amateurs.
ReplyDeleteLet's think about this.
DeleteThe FBI is feeling themselves under intense attack as an agency and as individual agents, and their reputation is being very publicly maligned. Will it make them back off or come at the source of that slander twice as hard?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
Carry on, ladies and gentlemen of the FBI.
Remember when wingnuts were screaming Obama politicized the IRS to go after cheating tea bagger non-profits?
ReplyDeletehttps://thinkprogress.org/shocking-memo-not-so-shocking-5615da89165e/
ReplyDelete"On Monday, one day after the contents of the disputed Republican memo came to light, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Politico that “end-of-the-year document dumps” had produced “very significant” information relevant to the committee’s Russia probe."“We’ve had new information that raises more questions,”
“Mueller is getting closer and closer to the truth.”"
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/29/impeachment-trumps-future-report-surfaces-attacked-andrew-mccabe-wife.html
ReplyDelete"Trump demanded to know why Comey was allowed to fly on an FBI plane after he had been fired, these people said. McCabe told the president he hadn’t been asked to authorize Comey’s flight, but if anyone had asked, he would have approved it, three people familiar with the call recounted to NBC News.
The president was silent for a moment and then turned on McCabe, suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser — an apparent reference to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia that McCabe’s wife made in 2015.
McCabe replied, “OK, sir.” Trump then hung up the phone."
His wife's campaign? How does anyone put up with trumps bullshit?
DeleteYou can't tell me trump's blood pressure is normal, he is angry most of the day.
DeleteGood response from McCabe,trump didn't get a rise out of him.
Most people may put up with Trump because they need their job and benefits. Or want their pension.
Delete4:15 PM - well, that's short lived if you have even been paying attention.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover
ReplyDeleteDeputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe becomes the latest addition to this list of Trump admin. departures: https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/958045068383924231
ReplyDeleteBREAKING: All indications are that Trump—via agents in Congress—has forced the retirement of a key witness against him in an Obstruction case that could lead to impeachment. Worse, it's part of a coordinated, illegal effort to intimidate, punish, and discredit adverse witnesses.
ReplyDeletehttps://threadreaderapp.com/thread/958047997790687232.html
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/958047997790687232
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/958074534212657152
Here's a *really* scary possibility: McCabe's ouster is part of a GOP effort to discredit the Flynn plea—as implied by this June 2017 story in the far-right Washington Times (often used as a media mouthpiece for Trump allies who need to get a message out).
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/958063886581805057
Trump fired Comey. Trump tried to fire Mueller. Trump says he wants to fire Rosenstein. Trump faced possible testimony from FBI lawyer James Baker—so Baker got reassigned. Trump tweeted invective at McCabe—McCabe was forced to retire.
When do we *wake up* and see the *pattern*?
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson
PS5/ The NEW YORK TIMES is now confirming that, with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe out of the way, the next Obstruction witness that Trump and his stooges in Congress plan to terrorize and discredit is Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/958057699647918080
BREAKING: All indications are that Trump—via agents in Congress—has forced the retirement of a key witness against him in an Obstruction case that could lead to impeachment. Worse, it's part of a coordinated, illegal effort to intimidate, punish, and discredit adverse witnesses.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/958047997790687232
Fox News: “It’s just so anti-American” to report on Trump without praising him
ReplyDeleteTrump's propaganda team at Fox think any reporting on the president that doesn't declare him a "rock star" is un-American.
https://shareblue.com/fox-news-its-just-so-anti-american-to-report-on-trump-without-praising-him/
That sounds just like Nazi Germany! Beware America - our country is going the wrong way and most Americans are not even paying attention!
DeleteRemember - Praise Hitler in the 30's and 40's? And, now we are to Praise Trump in the same way all these years later?
"Criminal suspects and their lawyers have unfettered access to the press, while professional standards and Department of Justice rules severely restrict prosecutors from talking about what they are doing, especially at the investigative stage."
ReplyDeletehttps://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/trump-is-using-an-interview-offer-as-another-way-to-discredit-the-mueller-probe.html
This qualifies as a MUST READ on the eve of #SOTU
ReplyDeletePresident Donald Trump’s frustrations with the Russia investigation boiled over on Air Force One last week when he learned that a top Justice Department official had warned against releasing a memo that could undercut the probe, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
Trump erupted in anger while traveling to Davos after learning that Associate Attorney General Stephen Boyd warned that it would be “extraordinarily reckless” to release a classified memo written by House Republican staffers. The memo outlines alleged misdeeds at the FBI and Justice Department related to the Russia investigation.
https://twitter.com/margarettalev/status/958071278199504897
THE MCCAIN INSTITUTE
Excellent choice. Kurt Campbell picked to lead new bipartisan effort on future U.S. China strategy.
https://twitter.com/elyratner/status/958036679394283520
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/dossier-firm-says-us-senators-leaks-endanger-employees/
ReplyDelete"Fusion’s lawyers complained that the names of Fusion employees were publicly disclosed in six letters issued last week by Grassley and Senator Graham, a judiciary subcommittee chairman, although the company’s lawyers “on multiple occasions” had asked committee staff members to avoid doing so.
“Ignoring our requests, your office knowingly put these people in danger, by releasing their names to the public,” the Fusion lawyers argued. “These leaks are unauthorized and unethical.”
“Some of these employees are not yet 30 years old. Others have children. We also hope that nothing happens to these good people, simply because of your office’s labored efforts to defend this president or please the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.”"
" Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators who have called for a “purge” of the bureau’s Comey-era officials might be disappointed, given his former proximity to Comey and McCabe. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last June, Comey said he had spoken to senior colleagues including Bowdich about President Donald Trump’s allegedly asking Comey to have the FBI back off its probe into Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser.
ReplyDeleteBecause of that apparent conversation, and because he was the No. 3 official under Comey, Bowdich is a potential witness into whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey. Last June, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested that the committee interview Bowdich and other FBI officials as the panel investigated Comey’s termination."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/acting-fbi-deputy-director-david-211557070.html
I believe fake news, he did not have relations with mccabe!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the FBI will stage a coup and arrest traitor trump!!!
ReplyDeleteWho is going to replace him, Giuliani? Just what we need, Giuliani will be investigating anyone and everyone that criticizes trump, starting with Hillary’s emails, Benghazi, private citizens and all journalists except for Fox “News”.
Maybe the FBI will stage a coup and arrest traitor trump!!!
ReplyDeleteWho is going to replace him, Giuliani? Just what we need, Giuliani will be investigating anyone and everyone that criticizes trump, starting with Hillary’s emails, Benghazi, private citizens and all journalists except for Fox “News”.
Wow! Trump is getting closer to getting rid of Mueller. And he has many behind the scene helpers aiding his treasonous ass. Unbelievable. Then before we know it, Putin will be the President. Trump the dummy front guy.
ReplyDelete