Andrew McCabe: Trump's "own words" prompted investigation



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In an interview with Scott Pelley of CBS on "60 Minutes," McCabe said Trump had spoken in a "pejorative" way about Russia's week-long investigation, which They considered it an attempt to "publicly undermine the investigation". He added that officials were "concerned about the president's" own words ".

  • Trump made public comments linking his removal from Comey to the Russia inquiry on NBC.
  • Trump met with Russian officials in the Oval Office, where he reportedly said that the transfer of Comey had relieved "strong pressure".

When asked if Rosenstein was on board to open Trump's investigations, McCabe told Pelley "absolutely".

The description of McCabe's concerns closely follows that of former FBI attorney general James Baker, who told Congressional investigators last year that FBI officials were considering, as far as Russia is concerned , if Trump "acted in any way whatsoever, respecting his will."

"It was an extreme.The other extreme is that the president is totally innocent, and we have discussed it too," Baker told House investigators last year. "There is a whole range of things that we can do, we have to investigate, because we do not know if, you know, the worst case is likely or the president is totally innocent and we have to do away with it." – and so that he can move forward with his agenda. "

Even after the launch of the investigation, McCabe said the president continued to praise Russia and described a case in which Trump had trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin in blatant contradiction with US intelligence.

McCabe told CBS that Trump did not believe that North Korea had carried out a missile test because Putin had told him that the rogue regime did not have the capability or the missiles needed to carry out missile tests likely to hit the United States. McCabe said Trump had said that at a briefing from the White House intelligence services, which an FBI official who was present at the briefing had forwarded to McCabe.

"Intelligence officials at the information meeting responded that this did not correspond to any of the information available to our government, to which the president replied:" I mocked. I believe Putin, "McCabe said.

McCabe said when he had heard that the president had said that, he thought it was "just a staggering thing to say." Devote that time, effort and energy and what we do all in the intelligence community to produce products that will help decision-makers – and the ultimate decision maker, the president of the United States – to make political decisions and face absolute disbelief in regard to these efforts and reluctance to know the real situation that he has to face daily just shocking. "

The Washington Post first narrated this anecdote in McCabe's book "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump," citing Trump who dismissed the launch at a July 2017 briefing by calling it a "hoax".

When asked earlier in the week to comment on Trump's comments in North Korea, the White House did not respond.

Press officer Sarah Sanders has generally criticized McCabe's book in a statement saying: "Andrew McCabe was fired from the FBI by total disgrace because he had lied to the investigators on several occasions, including under oath. His selfish and destructive program urged him to open up a complete basic investigation of the president.

"His actions were so shameful," continued Sanders, "that he was fired before federal prosecutors." Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is a source of embarrassment for both men and women the FBI and our great country ".

The Attorney General at the time, Jeff Sessions, had fired McCabe in March following a report by the Inspector General concluding that he had misled investigators into the role that He had played in the fact that he had ordered other FBI officials to speak to the Wall Street Journal about his involvement in a public corruption investigation against the Clinton Foundation.

"There is absolutely no reason for anyone and certainly not for me to misrepresent what happened." So no, have I ever intentionally misled people into who I spoke to? I did not have it. I had no reason, and I did not do it, "McCabe told" 60 Minutes "on Sunday.

The Justice Ministry's watchdog has referred his findings on McCabe to the US Attorney's Office in Washington for possible criminal charges. The case is still under investigation.

Kevin Bohn and Kate Sullivan of CNN contributed to this report.

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