FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fired

[Mountain Man]

I'm disappointed you actually believe that this wasn't coming from Trump. Wake up, brother.

If Sessions has demonstrated anything, it's that he's not a political pawn of the President. In fact he has been carefully and deliberately apolitical in his running of the Justice Department (for which he has received some criticism from Trump supporters), and I believe he only took action against McCabe because he was handed the proverbial smoking gun. We'll know more when the IG's report is released, and if McCabe is indicted.

[Juvenal]

Comey seemed to straddle the fence on that. On the one hand, he made that sort of decision and on the other hand, he was releasing information about it that damaged Clinton while the investigation was still under way. I'm not sure he should have done that, but I do understand that since the election was taking place he might have felt the public had a right to know.

Comey previously had a reputation for being quite willing to stand up for what he thought was right. I suspect that the decision not to charge Clinton was made above Comey, and he was merely instructed to be the front man (I should note, I have no real proof and it's really pure speculation). Remember the whole Bill and Loretta meeting on the airplane and how it 'wasn't planned'? When you play the game at that level, you don't make those kinds of 'mistakes'. That was a carefully coordinated meeting that they were hoping would fly under the radar.

There's room to believe the naturally gregarious Bill saw Loretta's plane on the tarmac and decided on the spur of the moment he wanted to chat. And frankly, the idea that they set up a meeting on the tarmac to do a shady, let alone carefully coordinated a meeting, as if neither of them had phones, would embarrass Alex Jones.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't embarrass Alex, but it should embarrass everyone else.

But there's no doubt, because he said exactly as much, that the tarmac meeting made Comey feel compromised, enough so that even after Lynch recused herself and handed the decision to the FBI, he felt it was necessary to clear his own reputation and vicariously, the reputation of the FBI, by holding a press conference to announce he wasn't charging Hillary, and why.

He wasn't authorized to make those statements. He wasn't authorized to make any statement. That was in Rosenstein's memo, and why the Trump team felt they could remove Comey with bipartisan support, until it leaked that he crowed about the decision immediately afterward in a meeting with the Russians in the oval office.

There's near unanimity across the aisle that Comey was far off the reservation when he made disparaging comments in his official capacity about a presidential candidate, who was not being charged, in the middle of a presidential campaign. But he gets a pass because he was defending the reputation of the FBI against charges of political influence.

His explanation of the decision not to charge her works, by the way. What would convince me otherwise is exactly what he said was missing, a similar case where classified information was handled carelessly and the target of the investigation was taken to trial.

On the contrary, we have the example of Petraeus, who as head of the CIA deliberately leaked classified information to his biographer, who had no security clearance at all, who had no justifiable reason for receiving the information, and with whom he was having a sexual relationship. The Fatal Attraction subplot makes clear exactly how poor a decision that was for anyone, let alone the CIA director. And for that, Petraeus was charged with a misdemeanor and received probation and a fine, which sets the bar.


If Hillary's emails pass below the Petraeus bar, McCabe's offense isn't in the same track meet. There's irony aplenty in his politically influenced firing for "lacking candor" about pushing back against charges of political influence.

McCabe is charged with lacking candor when speaking to the IG about the same kind of conduct that was behind Rosenstein's Comey memo: releasing information to the press to defend against charges in the press of political influence in the FBI. As McCabe would have it, this kind of reputation control was a regular part of his job as deputy, authorized by the director and with the director's approval.

[Juvenal]

READ: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's statement on his firing

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. 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, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

And ...

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.

The Trump administration can't stop incriminating itself.

This is about ending the Mueller investigation.

This is obstruction of justice.

[rogue06]

There's room to believe the naturally gregarious Bill saw Loretta's plane on the tarmac and decided on the spur of the moment he wanted to chat.

Which of course would explain why they had their security detail remove everyone from the scene including themselves so the two could talk in total privacy about grandchildren and golf. I'm sure the reason that Bill kept delaying his departure because he had decided to take advantage of all the amenities available on the tarmac of the airport until Lynch showed up.

I have some nice ocean-side property in Kansas that you might be interested in.

[Mountain Man]

READ: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's statement on his firing

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. 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, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

And ...

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.

The Trump administration can't stop incriminating itself.

This is about ending the Mueller investigation.

This is obstruction of justice.

What's this? McCabe declares his own innocence? Now there's a shocking development.

Except there's actual evidence against McCabe. First there's the Nunes investigation in which his name appears prominently. Second, he hasn't denied anything. Rather, his defense is, essentially, "Yes, I did it, but it wasn't wrong."

[carpedm9587]

Which of course would explain why they had their security detail remove everyone from the scene including themselves so the two could talk in total privacy about grandchildren and golf. I'm sure the reason that Bill kept delaying his departure because he had decided to take advantage of all the amenities available on the tarmac of the airport until Lynch showed up.

I have some nice ocean-side property in Kansas that you might be interested in.

Thsi is the first I hear of the "clearing of the space." Can you cite a source? I'd like to look into it.

[carpedm9587]

Perhaps McCabe won't have to go without his pension. Somehow, it seems rather petty to force a man out hours before he qualifies after he spent over 21 years in service.

[carpedm9587]

I have been very curious to know as much as possible about the whole McCabe issue. In my poking around, I found the usual: the left is villifying Trump and Sessions, and the right is defending them and villifying McCabe, Comey, and Clinton. In my poking around, I came across this resource, which I found to be one of the most balanced of all of the sources. It aligns wwith the facts, pointing out both what we do know and what we don't know.

Mediafactcheck describes this source as highly accurate, with a left-of-center leaning.

[Juvenal]

What's this? McCabe declares his own innocence? Now there's a shocking development.

It's also consistent with the actions of one who is innocent. His story is consistent and hence believable, which is twice what can be said about the Trump administration and their statements about the removals of Comey and now McCabe.

Except there's actual evidence against McCabe. First there's the Nunes investigation in which his name appears prominently. Second, he hasn't denied anything. Rather, his defense is, essentially, "Yes, I did it, but it wasn't wrong."

We have evidence of Nunes acting as an agent of the Trump administration, directly in the unmasking charade, and indirectly in his refusal to answer a question about the role of the Trump administration in drafting the Nunes memo. Any mentions from Nunes are thus exculpatory, as they are in themselves evidence of attempts to subject the DOJ to political influence, on behalf of the president, supporting McCabe's charges.

Moreover, no official, that is, no one outside the commentariat, has charged that he was not authorized to speak to the press to answer media misrepresentations. The suggested charge is that he was not sufficiently candid with the IG about doing so, which he allows, but in the context of the chaotic environment created by the president's attacks on the Mueller investigation, the FBI, and himself, all of which are well known.

He also claims to be able to corroborate his authority to direct the press office at the direction of both Comey and Wray.

[Juvenal]

This just in from the more-haste less-speed department.

Andrew McCabe was just offered a job by a congressman so he can get his full retirement. And it just might work.

McCabe's team is confident that he had at least 20 years of law enforcement work under his belt — defined as carrying a weapon or supervising people who do — which made him eligible to retire on his 50th birthday on Sunday, with full retirement benefits.

Perhaps McCabe won't have to go without his pension. Somehow, it seems rather petty to force a man out hours before he qualifies after he spent over 21 years in service.

[Juvenal]

Which of course would explain why they had their security detail remove everyone from the scene including themselves so the two could talk in total privacy about grandchildren and golf.

As conspiracy theories go, this one is embarrassing. They had phones, and it suffers from the usual problem of conspiracy theories.

"I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport as he was leaving and spoke to myself and my husband on the plane," Lynch said. "Our conversation was a great deal about grandchildren, it was primarily social about our travels and he mentioned golf he played in Phoenix."

To maintain them, it's necessary to expand the size of the conspiracy.

This is as much information as I was able to find about Lynch's on board security detail.

"Somebody from D.C. will advance the trip and liaise with the local element, who has a big SWAT team and provide everything they need so they can send only a skeletal unit with her, two people—a medic and protection. They don’t need to commit 27 people.”

I'm sure the reason that Bill kept delaying his departure because he had decided to take advantage of all the amenities available on the tarmac of the airport until Lynch showed up.

I have some nice ocean-side property in Kansas that you might be interested in.

Both of these agree exactly on their facts.

ABC15 reported Clinton delayed his departure in order to see Lynch, who was in Phoenix to promote the Justice Department's community policing program.

v.

The encounter, reported by the ABC affiliate in Phoenix, happened as Clinton's plane was about to leave Sky Harbor Airport, when he realized Lynch's plane was on the same tarmac. ABC15 reported Clinton delayed his departure in order to see Lynch, who was in Phoenix to promote the Justice Department's community policing program.

But the first lies by omission.

[Mountain Man]

Perhaps McCabe won't have to go without his pension. Somehow, it seems rather petty to force a man out hours before he qualifies after he spent over 21 years in service.

Yes, let's ignore all the crimes he may have committed along the way.

[Mountain Man]

I have been very curious to know as much as possible about the whole McCabe issue. In my poking around, I found the usual: the left is villifying Trump and Sessions, and the right is defending them and villifying McCabe, Comey, and Clinton. In my poking around, I came across this resource, which I found to be one of the most balanced of all of the sources. It aligns wwith the facts, pointing out both what we do know and what we don't know.

Mediafactcheck describes this source as highly accurate, with a left-of-center leaning.

Which means it's really far-left and questionably accurate.

To be fair, the first half of the article seemed reasonably accurate and unbiased. It's the second half where they started to engage in soft conspiracy theory peddling that they lost me (I love it when someone says, "We don't want to speculate, but..." and then they go straight into speculating), though to their credit they're not nearly as strident about it as other liberal sources.

[Charles]

Yes, let's ignore all the crimes he may have committed along the way.

I note the "may". You seem to always incist that people are not guilty until proven guilty, but in this case "may" is enough?

[firstfloor]

Trump is on the ropes. This is a man about to implode. With any luck he is going to take the GOP, Breitbart, Fox News and the Christian Right down with him:

“[On Sunday morning, Trump commented on the memos in a tweet: “Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?”]”

An innocent man does not need to say this:

“[Trump said in a Saturday night tweet: “The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!”]”