Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the referral of the Inspector General of the Justice Department of criminal charges against former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. Unlike most referrals, this comes after an extensive investigation of McCabe where the IG, and the Office of Professional Responsibility, made unprecedented recommendations against McCabe after concluding that he lied repeatedly for his own personal interest. It also follows a public statement by former FBI Director James Comey and McCabe’s account is untrue. That will put a great deal of pressure on U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jessie Liu, who President Trump appointed in July 2017. Given the charges against others, like Flynn, McCabe is in a particularly bad position for such a referral. It now appears that McCabe will ask for more donations from the public.
Here is the column:
With former FBI director James Comey reportedly considering a movie deal, events are undermining his narrative by the day, even for a reduced version of “A Few Good Men.” The man Comey described as a “good man,” his former top aide Andrew McCabe, was just referred by the Justice Department’s inspector general for criminal charges. Comey now says“Good people lie. I think I’m a good person, where I have lied.” That is not exactly the stuff of Tom Cruise yelling, “I want the truth!”
The truth is that Comey and McCabe repeatedly have criticized President Trump for degrading the FBI, but this week has changed their comments from pointed hyperbole to pathetic hypocrisy. Both men have now done profound harm to the FBI’s integrity and legacy. McCabe became the first acting FBI director to be fired on the recommendation of career Justice Department investigators.
For his part, Comey became the first FBI director in history to rush a tell-all book to print. While former FBI director Louis Freeh later wrote about his career, it was not a detailed account of an ongoing investigation where he was not only the head but now a key witness. Comey not only apparently declined to confer with special counsel Robert Mueller about the book’s timing, but he went on to reference both disclosed and undisclosed evidence in it.
Weeks ago, I wrote a column asking why McCabe has not been charged with false statements under 18 U.S.C. 1001 following reports that he lied multiple times about leaking information to the media. After all, the special counsel has handed out such charges like candy to targets in the Russian investigation, including former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, Trump campaign deputy chairman Rick Gates, and Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan, an associate of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Ironically, McCabe’s position may have been undermined by the man he once helped to investigate, Michael Flynn, who was indicted and pleaded guilty to a single false statement in denying that sanctions were discussed with Russian diplomats during the presidential transition. There was nothing unlawful or particularly unusual in such a meeting for an incoming national security adviser. Moreover, investigators working under Comey and McCabe reportedly concluded that Flynn was not intentionally trying to mislead them, but Mueller indicted Flynn anyway. After exhausting his savings and selling his house, Flynn agreed to plead guilty.
Unlike the charge against Flynn for lying once about a discussion that would not have been illegal, McCabe was found to have lied not once but four times about an alleged improper leak. Unlike many in the media, the inspector general clearly does not see the difference between these cases and clearly is bothered by the glaring contrast in treatment. Moreover, the inspector general found that McCabe leaked the information solely for his personal interest, not the public’s interest. McCabe even tried to use a defense that his colleagues rejected for Flynn: He reportedly said he was “confused and distracted” on those four different occasions.
Undermining McCabe further is a public feud with Comey, his former boss. McCabe has claimed Comey was aware of his leaking the information, while Comey has denied that. After the release of the inspector general report, things went from chilly to positively glacial between them. This week, Comey declared he not only had no knowledge of McCabe’s misconduct but that he personally asked for the investigation to discover the source of the leaked information.
He then called McCabe a liar, in that inimical Comey style of first saying McCabe is a “good person” but that the “inspector general found he lied.” The criminal referral could now lead to the bizarre scene of Comey testifying against McCabe. Since Comey has previously testified under oath that he never leaked or approved of a leak, that would be a brutal cross-examination between two self-proclaimed “good men.”
McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, already has indicated there might not be room for two “good men” in this drama. He blasted the career officials in the inspector general’s office and insisted that people should “credit Mr. McCabe’s account over Director Comey’s.” He objected that Comey was less “credible” in his account and complained that the report “paints Director Comey as a white knight carefully guarding FBI information.” Bromwich also has been making Michael Cohen-like threats of suing everyone, from members of Congress on down, for defamation.
McCabe moved quickly to raise his fortunes before his reputation fell. First, he seemingly did not dispute the false narrative, widely reported in the media, that he “lost his pension” by being fired just hours before his retirement. In truth, his pension “vested” after five years, and he has roughly $2 million in pension benefits. What was potentially lost was payments under a special pension for law officers who retire early.
Many people seemed to believe McCabe was left destitute and donated to a GoFundMe page — a mind-boggling step for a former deputy director of the FBI — to raise money for his legal representation. Its target was repeatedly increased until reportedly raising more than $500,000. Unlike his donors, McCabe knew what the Justice Department investigated and what the inspector general was likely to conclude. He shut down the fundraising page not long before the inspector general made public its report accusing him of lying repeatedly and before Comey, too, publicly declared him to be a liar.
The case now goes to the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, who will have an inspector general report and former FBI director both saying the McCabe lied repeatedly. McCabe may have real need for that defense fund. Of course, some of those donors may be forgiven for now wondering if they were taken by a bait-and-switch campaign where an alleged penniless victim turns out to be the putative culprit.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
When everything is said and done, nothing will happen to these people.
Cashews or just peanuts?
Andrew got the idea from this “Life Stinks” money beg scene.
McCabes new gofundme page violates the terms and conditions and needs to be shut down.
No matter how this turns out, it won’t exonerate Trump. Don’t you get that, Jon, Fox News and other Trumpsters?
Nor will it convict him. Natacha, by demanding “exoneration” you’ve already concluded without evidence, but with unbridled emotion, that Trump is guilty. In that way, you’ve self-identified as immature.
The whole psychology of her post is positively adolescent.
I’m kinda impressed that she’s on a first name basis, nay, diminutive first name basis, with the blog host.
🙂
Trump already on the way to exoneration. Muler’s Coen referral to Southern District of NY is clear signal to anybody paying attention that he’s got nothing on Trump-Russia collusion. McCabe is separate matter for which deep state’s tactics have boomeranged with equivalent justice applied to Flynn to be used against McCabe.
McCabe, Comey, and Mueller, the three anti-American scumbags being promoted by the Deep State are laughing all the way to the bank. Trump’s failure to prosecute Clinton from the get-go demonstrated his weakness and the Deep State seized on his weakness with a vengeance. It’s not too late for Trump to force Sessions out and put a REAL Attorney General in place who would immediately begin prosecution of McCabe, Comey, and Mueller, and seize all of the home and office records. Sure, the lefties would claim that Trump is acting out of revenge. But authoritarian scum only respect one thing. A show of brute, relentless force. Trump has been acting like too much of a pansy lately and he needs to start toughing up.
“Deep State”. LOL. It’s a CONSPIRACY I tells ya!!!
The one thing that the Left has always excelled at is the ability to create and stick to a message. Republicans are best at shooting themselves in the foot. Republicans could use a good PR firm. If the Left has established a Go-Fund-Me page for McCabe why the heck hasn’t the Right established a Go-Fund-Me for General Flynn. It’s time to stop complaining about what the Left is doing and time to start beating them at their own game.
Sure – when pigs fly…. The nerve of these bureaucrats …
It was after MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow shared McCabe’s Go Fund Me page with her very large fan base that the donations came pouring in…because McCabe is a “victim” of mean old Trump dontcha know. So they must activate the anti-Trump “Resistance” for McCabe…no matter that he’s financially well-off and quite capable of paying his own legal bills. And no matter that he’s actually guilty of serious wrong-doing that he should be prosecuted for, not just fired for….and no matter that he’s also keeping his very large pension benefits. It’s all too sickening to watch as Comey and McCabe both cash in as ‘victims’ while shamelessly monetizing their misdeeds.
Rachel “Mad Cow” Maddow viewers “cant handle the truth. She puts bait out there – Trump is a meany – and her views bite, no questions asked/no rational thought.
Put his photo in jail.
Not yet. For now put his photo in post offices.
The book earnings aren’t enough to pay the attorney fees and now he’s back to begging from those he betrayed? Let the left pay his bills.
Left won’t. Try begging from the ultra rich.
M.A.
Everyone that I disagree with is a lefty. Every idea that I don’t like is a leftist position.
A large percentage of the population are incapable of any thinking or reasoning. They are merely programmed automatons, who are spoon fed the daily narratives of their lives. The anti-Trump readers of this blog are a perfect example. They may even honestly believe that they have reached their anti-Trump views through an examination of facts and evidence. But that is a chimera. They have no free will. They have no facts nor evidence. They only have the Deep State that tells them what to believe, what to “think,” and what is real and not real.
Don’t believe me? Then watch this presentation, “You’ll Never Trust the Corporate Media Again.” Of course, the title is specious. Only a limited percentage of the population is even capable of weighing facts, evidence, and drawing logical or reasonable inferences. The vast majority are merely manipulated drones. In fact, when the manipulated drones begin to watch the following program, they will receive unconscious orders that they have been programmed with that will force them to reject the facts, the evidence, the truth, and the compelling logic, and to shut down the program.
The Deep State, after all, is not run by fools who do not learn from their mistakes. They are only getting better and better at psychological control of the masses. While the election of Donald Trump was clearly not on the Deep State’s agenda, they were prepared for the possibility, and thus they coordinated an all-out attack on Trump’s presidency, attacking him politically, legally, economically, psychologically, and through mass media manipulation from all sides.
For the rare few among you who have an enduring interest, as I do, in the ways that the Deep State manipulates the masses including the many anti-Trumpers posting on this blog, the following video is instructive.
Drivel.
A classic Pavolivian response, from one of our resident programmed automatons.
…said the automaton programmed by Faux.
Wrong, ultrasubcretin. You obviously did not watch the video because Fox too is part of the phony media. But, like I said above, “when the manipulated drones begin to watch the following program, they will receive unconscious orders that they have been programmed with that will force them to reject the facts, the evidence, the truth, and the compelling logic, and to shut down the program.”
I’m getting tired of being right all of the time. Isn’t there ANY intelligent life on this blog?
Hey, I’m still here! You are right. The Modern Left as an Institution, is where the Catholic Church was in Martin Luther’s day. All about the money and power while the peasants, the run-of-mill-street Democrats, come in and worship at their altar, and buy their relics and Saint’s Bones to cure the St. Vitus Dance, convinced that they have been forgiven of all their sins by simply being a Democrat.
Plus, Great Video!!! Of the idiots who panned you didn’t bother to actually watch the video. That might have interfered with their preexisting belief system. Plus, one of my favorites:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/e2/63/f4e2630c6b4bd48fda9cdc27a12f1001.jpg
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Oh yes it’s all fines points and I openly appreciates its contents. How I can get in touch with your kind goodself? Thanks with all the BEST and warm regards. Shahabuddin.
Lawdog,
Not even Fox, Fox would be a giant improvement.
Youtube conspiracy videos, the nuttier the better.
But not untrue and ‘drivel’ is not facts but then when has that been part of the debating method of the socialiist progressive movement when …. porn will do them just fine.
Think of something cleverer to write.
I just see Pavlovian drool…
DB, the following could not define you better: “when the manipulated drones begin to watch the following program, they will receive unconscious orders that they have been programmed with that will force them to reject the facts, the evidence, the truth, and the compelling logic, and to shut down the program.”
Ralph, you love your whacky conspiracy theories like the fat boy loves cake.
Were you a Birther too, like our demented President, back in the day?
Supports of our depraved President would be wise to avoid all references to porn.
Indeed.
Trump has been running a laundromat for Russian oligarchs for at least a decade. That doesn’t mean that Bonnie Parker Clinton isn’t a crime wave in a pantsuit.
“A large percentage of the population are incapable of any thinking or reasoning.”
******************
I make it about two out of three.
“…the people are nothing but a great beast…
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value.”
– Alexander Hamilton
George:
That notion got Hamilton shot dead.
It may have also been Hamilton’s failure to communicate an intent to “delope” which led to his being shot dead rather than being honorably shot at.
George:
Bad aim more likely. Hammy was sort of a girly man. http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/hamilton-laurens/hamilton-laurens-letters
End Times Production……Right….
Ralph believes everything he sees on Youtube. No, he really does, stop laughing. 🤣😂🤣
Do not donate to this dork. Send him some romaine lettuce.
Is it illegal to send rotten tomato and eggs through the mail or must UPS/FedEx act as the long distance thrower?
Not only does Mr. McCabe need funds for his legal defense, I believe he will also need a lot of funds for another kind of defense, personal security.
Mr. McCabe would certainly be aware of all the manipulations of the FISA warrants, the Steele dossier usage, the glossing over of the Clinton email investigation and of course the ‘insurance policy’.
Will he turn or won’t he? His family’s safety may depend on his answer.
“But they are all honorable men.”
Refers to who and by what moral standards?
Reread Mark Anthony’s speech and apply it to inside the Beltway.
I said it before and I’ll say it again…
McCabe was born in ’68. He’s roughly 50 years old. He’s a well pedigreed lawyer (Duke undergrad, Washington University School of Law). He was in private practice for a few years, but probably couldn’t hack the 100+ billable hour club fresh recruits must endure before making partner, so he got himself an entitled gub’mint job with the FBI.
Clearly he was able to kiss the right backsides to rise above the feckless FBI bureaucracy through multiple administrations and at a fairly rapid clip. This means he was bilking taxpayers at an SES salary since the mid-2000s. That’s a minimum of $216K per year, with $20+K bonuses thrown in for showing up to work.
Now he wants to retire at 50 and asks for your help for his legal defense fund? Before I’d contribute, I’d ask: “Sir, how have you urinated all of your money away?”
Methinks he should keep working like the rest of us schlubs. But being the nice guy that I am, I will throw a few wooden nickels and some WorldCom stock certificates his way.
Well done!
I’m no friend of McCabe. I’d pay money to watch him do the perp walk. That said, IMO his top salary was way less than your number.
The rest I agree with. Hope he gets a life sentence, or maybe he can be the next one to suffer a Clinton “Arkancide.” Hint McCabe: stay away from cars and nail guns. One of the Klinton Krime Syndikate members died from a shot gun to the back of the head, declared a suicide! Yeah, when monkey fly out my _utt!
$161,900.
https://www.fbiagentedu.org/salaries/
I’ll save you the digging. Scroll down to the section heading “FBI Supervisor and Executive Salaries”.
McCabe was a supervisory special agent and then manager from 2003 onward. That’s GS-15 territory. In 2009, he made director level. That’s SES territory.
You should be irritated these hacks suck up this much of your tax dollars.
maybe some bitcoin to make it more illegal but fit his case perfectly
but probably couldn’t hack the 100+ billable hour club fresh recruits must endure before making partner, so he got himself an entitled gub’mint job with the FBI.
A junior attorney of my acquaintance once told me the largish mid-law firm he worked for had him in the office 80 hours a week. I asked him a second time, and he admitted it was 60 hours. At the time, outlets like the New York Law Journal were publishing data which indicated that median working hours for attorneys were around 49 hours a week.
Your acquaintance is a slacker and would never make partner in a top firm.
The slacker in question was Editor of the law review at SUNY Buffalo, clerked for the Appellate Division in New York, and has held the position of chief of compliance or deputy chief of compliance at three different companies (whose workforces vary in size between 3,000 and 96,000). He’s doing all right.