Andrew McCabe has admitted something that many of us have known for over two years. James Comey eroded the respect and the credibility of the FBI. J Edgar must be rolling around in his grave.
As we are getting down to the nitty gritty and new interest is beginning to appear on the actions of the FBI and the DOJ in the 2016 election cycle, people are starting to turn on each other in hopes of avoiding getting nailed for the things they did. And it’s going to take a long, long time before the FBI becomes the venerable institution it once was.
Andrew McCabe, the disgraced former acting FBI director, conceded in his new book that James Comey’s infamous decision to hold a press conference to announce no charges against Hillary Clinton in her email case worked to “erode the credibility of the FBI.”
Perhaps unwittingly lending weight to some of President Trump’s own arguments for ultimately firing Comey, McCabe blasted Comey’s unprecedented press conference as possibly doing “long-term damage” to the FBI.
On July 5, 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, Comey held a notorious press conference during which he bypassed Justice Department tradition by unilaterally declaring that “no charges are appropriate” in the case of Clinton’s private email server. It is not the role of the FBI to make such pronouncements.
McCabe, meanwhile, is in hot water over his actions relating to Trump’s presidency.
Last April, the Justice Department inspector-general (IG) referred McCabe to Washington’s top federal prosecutor after the IG’s report found that McCabe had lied to investigators or Comey four times, including on three occasions when McCabe was under oath.
McCabe has also faced controversy over a much-debated text message from FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who helped lead the bureau’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server. According to the four-page Republican House Intelligence Committee memo authored by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the Strzok message reportedly referred to “a meeting with Deputy Director McCabe to discuss an ‘insurance’ policy against President Trump’s election.”