DOJ Inspector General's Report: McCabe Repeatedly Misled Investigators

Donald Trump

According to The New York Times, the report by the Justice Department inspector general concludes that former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe repeatedly misled investigators.

The inspector general said that when investigators asked whether he had instructed aides to provide information in October 2016 to a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. McCabe said he did not authorize the disclosure and did not know who did.

But Mr. McCabe did approve the F.B.I.’s contact with the reporter, according to the review.

The newspaper article delved into a dispute between F.B.I. and Justice Department officials over how to proceed in an investigation into the financial dealings of the Clinton family’s foundation. It revealed a sensitive meeting during which Justice Department officials declined to authorize subpoenas or grand jury activity.

The inspector general also concluded that Mr. McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of the ongoing investigation in the manner described in the report violated media policy of the F.B.I. and Justice Department and constituted misconduct.

In a statement, Mr. McCabe said that he had full authorization to share this information with the media. Mr. McCabe also said that he did not intentionally mislead investigators.

Even though McCabe stepped down from his position in January, he was officially fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions less than two days before becoming eligible for his full federal pension after spending more than 20 years in government service.

Donald Trump's thumbs couldn't wait to take to Twitter writing in perfectly calm, reverent tones, "He LIED! LIED! LIED!"

Seriously, folks - this reads more like a meltdown than a presidential message.

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 rest of the world had a few thoughts as well:

This primal (Twitter) scream -- "McCabe is Comey!!" -- lays bare POTUS's view of the FBI as a personal legal threat, a source of incriminating witnesses, rather than a nonpartisan law enforcement agency. https://t.co/TVqVE0W6z5

— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) April 13, 2018

A true thing seems to be that McCabe and Comey thought it was a mortal lock that Clinton was going to win, didn’t see the harm in coloring outside the lines at her expense, and lost their careers to the man who profited most from their misconduct. https://t.co/I8CyBOeXYA

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 13, 2018

Dear @realDonaldTrump: Pleased to see you take lying so seriously. Perhaps you should apply the standard you put on McCabe to yourself and other Administration officials.

Also, how come you pardoned Scooter Libby, who was convicted because he LIED! LIED! LIED! https://t.co/QcBZ7lTtcs

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 13, 2018

Trump obviously didn't read full report, which makes clear that Comey and McCabe had contrasting accounts of what happened. At one point, Comey asked McCabe to drop off a call about Clinton emails on Weiner laptop and had to recuse himself from 2nd probe https://t.co/aBvOkxiObY

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 13, 2018

It should be noted that James Comey’s descriptions of his conversations with Trump helped sink McCabe. So Trump’s argument here doesn’t hold a ton of weight. pic.twitter.com/GLV6WqIhFX

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 13, 2018